Finance minister Unakitan: "Don't put water where there's no fire"

Finance Minister Kemal Unakitan yesterday met with newspaper editors and businessmen at a breakfast in Istanbul . Rebuffing criticism of the government's response to the global financial crisis, Unakitan said, "At a time when the world is rushing its fire brigades to put out a host of fires, it's easy to react reflexively to mobilize your own fire brigades as well … But it's also important that you don't begin putting water where there is no fire." Commenting on European banks raising the guarantee amount for accounts, Unakitan said that Turkish banks see no need to raise the current 50,000 YTL limit for government guarantees.