EU report hails resilience of Turkish economy in the face of crisis

Turkey will continue to progress with its own economic program in the absence of a possible standby deal with the International Monetary Fund, Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek said yesterday. Addressing the Turkey Investment Summit, co-organized by the Turkish Embassy in London and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in London, Simsek said that Turkey has gotten through the worst part of the worst financial crisis the world has ever seen without the support of the IMF. He stressed that he expects Turkey to grow stronger in the coming years and to stand on its own two feet without any need for assistance from international financial institutions. However, he added, a possible standby with the IMF would be to Turkey's advantage, as it would help the government decrease the amount of domestic borrowing by providing extra funding to the private sector. "We have our own economic program, but financial support would be beneficial to Turkey," he said. "However, in its absence, Turkey will go on its own way with its own program." In related news, in a recent report on Turkey's economy, the European Commission praised the country's performance in the face of the global economic crisis. Stating that the economy has managed to overcome its vulnerability to outside shocks, the report said that over the last seven years Turkey has moved towards meeting European Union economic standards.