Babacan says Turkey will enter a debt-free preiod after 19 years

Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan said during a live interview aired on private broadcasters NTV and CNBC-e that Turkey would enter a debt-free period tomorrow after 19 years, after repaying the final portion of its debt to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). "Up to this day, Turkey has signed 19 stand-by agreements with the IMF. We ended the last one in May 2008, and we haven't used loans for five years," Babacan noted. In response to a question on Turkey's pledge to contribute $5 billion to IMF's reserves, Babacan said, "This contribution is fairly small in relation to the size of our economy and cash reserves. The symbolic value of this contribution is more important."