Turkmen public sector organizations instructed to cut their budgets

AKIPRESS.COM - On 8 June, 2020 executives of Turkmenistan's public sector and state-run organizations received letters from the Ministry of Finance and Economy with a request to cut their budgets because of the reduction of the approved 2020 state budget, Chronicles of Turkmenistan reports. The organizations were prescribed to reduce both revenues and expenditures of the state budget. Discretionary expenses must be cut whereas the remaining funds need to be rationally used. No specific measures have been quoted in the letter which contains no precise instructions.
Employees expect further company downsizing, unpaid leaves and staff transfers to working part-time with a corresponding salary decrease.
People working in offices say that only two to three employees are left in the offices which used to accommodate 5 to 6 people a few years ago. The workload on the remaining staff is increasing. The number of reports, certificates and documents to be completed, out, which often duplicate each other, is increasing every year.
The cost saving measures are undertaken on a regular basis due to company downsizing. These also include an annual 10% salary increase from 1 January pursuant to instructions issued by President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov. This is often done at the expense of staff redundancies rather than profits (many businesses are loss-making).
On 20 May, 2020 the President instructed that the expenditures be reduced and sources of state revenue be identified.