22 October 2009, Thursday
Finance minister, Şimşek: Turkey to go on without IMF
Turkey will continue to progress with its own economic program in the absence of a possible stand-by deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek said on Wednesday.
Attending the Turkey Investment Summit, organized by the Turkish Embassy in London and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) at the Renaissance Chancery Hotel in London, Şimşek noted that Turkey has overcome the worst part of the worst financial crisis the world has ever seen without the support of the IMF.
He stressed he expects Turkey to grow stronger in the coming years and to stand on its own two feet without any need of assistance from international financial institutions. However, he added, a possible stand-by deal with the IMF will be to Turkey's advantage as it will help the government decrease the amount of domestic borrowing by providing extra funding to the private sector.
“We have our own economic program, but financial support will be beneficial to Turkey. However, in its absence, Turkey will go on its own way with its own program,” the minister said, referring to the government's latest Middle Term Economic Program.
In the summit, which kicked off on Tuesday and ends today, investment opportunities and the latest investments in the energy and infrastructure sectors in Turkey along with policies Turkey has pursued in its fight against the global financial crisis were discussed.
Apart from Şimşek, the summit was attended by Investment Support and Promotion Agency of Turkey (ISPAT) President Alpaslan Korkmaz, Turkish Ambassador to Britain Yiğit Alpogan, EBRD Vice President Varel Freeman, Morgan Stanley chief economist Tevfik Aksoy and a number of bureaucrats and businessmen.
