IMF team to begin talks in Turkey on Thursday
ANKARA – An International Monetary Fund team will begin talks in Turkey on October 4 on the latest review of its loan program, the office of Turkish Economy Minister Mehmet Simsek said in a statement yesterday. The Fund team will be headed by Lorenzo Giorgianni, the IMF mission chief for Turkey. After starting in Istanbul on Thursday, the talks will continue in Ankara from October 8. The talks will focus on the latest macroeconomic situation and expectations, the 2007 public financial performance, structural reforms and the monetary policy and public fiscal program targets for 2008. Turkey has a $10 billion loan deal with the IMF and is the Fund’s largest debtor following a 2001 financial crisis. The economy has since rebounded strongly with annual inflation sinking to single digits. Simsek, a former Merrill Lynch economist, took over as economy minister from Ali Babacan following July elections in which the Justice and Development Party was re-elected. The statement also rejected media reports that Simsek held talks with IMF officials on a new program during a visit to the United States and that such a program would be based on the country’s level of international reserves. «These reports do not reflect the truth in any way,» the statement said. «As the end of the current program approaches (in May 2008), the issue of how relations with the IMF continue will be assessed and will be announced in the most appropriate way,» it said.
