Crisis-hit Turkey said Thursday, September 27, that it expected the economy to grow by five percent next year, maintaining its earlier forecast despite the threat of a global recession after the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
Turkey's top economic policy-making body, the Higher Planning Board, said in a statement issued after a meeting that the government would stick by its strict financial policy, outlined in a tough economic recovery programme backed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to achieve the forecast.
In the recovery programme, Turkey initially had forecast the economy would contract by three percent in 2001 and then revised the year-end growth rate to a contraction of 5.5 percent.
Analysts had earlier predicted the positive growth Turkey was aiming to achieve next year would occur later than expected as the global economy came to grips with the impact of the attacks in the United States.
The Higher Planning Board said the country's current account was expected to show a surplus of four billion dollars in 2001, in contrast to a previous forecast deficit.
Inflation in consumer prices, meanwhile, would be around 60 percent at the end of 2001, the statement said.
The Turkish economy plunged into crisis in February when the government floated the Turkish lira in a bid to contain a severe cash crunch rocking markets.
The move caused the currency to slump massivley against the dollar and disrupted an IMF-backed programme aimed at tackling inflation.
In April, Turkey began implementing a new programme to drag the economy out of crisis with multi-billion-dollar aid from the IMF and World Bank. — (AFP, Ankara)
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
