The study reviews the living standardsin Turkmenistan, shaped by the Soviet legacy - whose incomelevels in 1989 were below the socially acceptable minimum -;by the economic decline throughout the 1990s, until recenteconomic resumption; and, by current approaches, andgovernment policies. In an attempt to ensure good livingstandards, the country maintained one of the highest levelsof subsidization of basic goods: water, gas, fuel, andsocial services, are mostly free. To some extent, the poordo benefit from these subsidies, but troubling issues revealthat: the costs of these non-targeted subsidies are nottransparent, because they are paid by the providing agency,which in turn receives subsidized inputs. Nonetheless, realcosts make it impossible to operate on a commercial basis,and, the non-payment system as it relates to maintenance andoperation, has led to poor quality of services. But povertyalleviation implies much more than just subsidies, formeasured in access to opportunity, it is seriously limited:few mechanisms exist for enabling the poor to benefit frommost of the country's energy export earnings. Based onevidence that funding for social services representtransparent expenditures, and that subsidized commoditiesare disproportionately benefiting the wealthy, the potentialfor commercialization is undermined, unless services move tomarket pricing standards.
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