Turkey’s new economic program, backed by international assistance, would likely be prepared by the beginning of April, and would look to maintain stability by June, Economy Minister Kemal Dervis was quoted as saying by the Turkish Daily News on Saturday.
Dervis said a communal consensus was needed in designing the program, while markets should be quickly normalized through emergency measures.
Meanwhile, Dervis said that substantial international loans totaling $25-30 billion were unlikely, and indicated that such assistance would provide only a short-term relief.
"You would also be piling up new debt on the existing and already high stock. That is not the cure, but the power inside," Dervis said.
Dervis said an urgent agreement should be reached with international financiers and considerable progress has been made in this regard.
"If a framework agreement is reached with international institutions, we will have a comfortable week ahead," Dervis said, noting that the authorities would be working night and day to hammer out the framework agreement, according to the paper.
"We are not going to seal the program immediately after that. We will be discussing it with you, labor unions and other social parties. At the same time we will try to ensure a significant and fast-track international support. Then the actual program will emerge," he added.
Dervis cautioned that until stability can be restored, which he saw as not likely until June, interest rates could remain relatively high.
He, however, ruled out extreme volatility in exchange rates. He also said the current exchange rates were not at a balanced level nor do they reflect Turkey's actual competitive power – Albawaba.com
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