The International Monetary Fund is soon to send a mission to Turkey to assess the scope for additional IMF assistance to the national economy, IMF managing director Horst Koehler said here on Tuesday, October 30. Koehler made the announcement following a meeting late Monday of the IMF executive board to discuss developments in Turkey.
"An IMF negotiating mission will visit Ankara shortly to discuss Turkey's Fund-supported economic program and the tenth program review, which is expected to be on the Executive Board's agenda in the next few weeks," Koehler said in a statement.
Turkey has sought further help from the IMF in the face of a severe financial crisis. The government will have to commit half of its 2002 budgetary expenditures to servicing the public debt. But Koehler hailed reform efforts made so far by Turkish authorities, particularly in the aftermath of the September 11 suicide attacks in the United States.
"Turkey's economic program has been on track," he said. "The tragic events of September 11 hit Turkey particularly hard because of the country's location, its reliance on tourism and its heavy indebtedness.
"The mission will work with the Turkish authorities to strengthen economic policy, and on this basis recommend how best Turkey can continue to be supported." — (AFP, Washington)
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
