Erdogan: "Turkey is likely to repay its debt to the IMF by late 2012"

Turkey is likely to repay its remaining $6 billion debt to the International Monetary Fund by late 2012, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan told Reuters yesterday. In an interview, Erdogan spoke about the economy, Turkey's European Union membership bid, Iran, and NATO's missile shield project. "Eight years ago we had a debt of $23.5 billion, (and) right now the money that we owe to the IMF is $6 billion," he said. "And I guess toward the end of 2012 we will finish (repaying) all our debts." Erdogan also said he plans to criticize US monetary policy during the two-day G20 summit in South Korea starting tomorrow, and argued that the IMF and the World Bank both need restructuring.