Turkey said today it had agreed to strengthen measures in its economic recovery programme in return for a much-needed new loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the cash-strapped country.
The agreement with the IMF involved "taking strong structural and financial measures as of the beginning of 2002 to bolster the economic programme and gradually implement public reforms on government decisions," a written statement from Economy Minister Mr Kemal Dervis' office said.
The statement followed an announcement by IMF director Mr Horst Koehler in Washington that he would recommend the IMF's board of directors extend $10 billion in loans to Turkey under a new standby deal to tackle the impact of the September 11th attacks on the troubled Turkish economy.
Mr Kohler said in a statement after an informal meeting of the executive board on Turkey that Ankara had performed strongly in implementing a programme of tight reforms to handle its worst economic recession in years.
"However, in the aftermath of September 11 a financing gap of approximately 10 billion dollars for the remainder of 2001 and 2002 has arisen," he said.
Shaky Turkish markets have been showing signs of improvement in the past few days over news of impending IMF loans. The Turkish stock exchange has shown strong upward mobility, while interest and foreign exchange rates have declined.
The Turkish statement said details of the new standby deal and flow of foreign aid would be discussed in December when an IMF team visits Ankara.
AFP