The economy of Turkmenistan continues to recover from the 2014 downturn in hydrocarbon prices, but remains "in the grip of its worst economic crisis since the immediate postindependence period, driven in part by low gas prices, the suspension of gas exports to Russia between 2016 and 2019...and poor harvests." President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow at a session of the Cabinet of Ministers on March 11, 2021, called the rate of GDP growth unsatisfactory. When discussing the 2021 government budget, he noted that 2021 would be "as difficult" a year as 2020 had been. According to the 2020 Investment Climate Statement of the U.S. Department of State,