Simsek: "The IMF should consider Turkey's changing structure and the world economy"

After certain issues are solved, Turkey will invite International Monetary Fund officials to Turkey to continue talks on a possible standby agreement, State Minister for the Economy Mehmet Simsek said yesterday. He said if the Fund meets Turkey's expectations, Turkey could complete talks with the Fund and send its letter of intent by the end of this month. Stressing that the new agreement should not be based on past IMF prescriptions, Simsek said the IMF had earlier sought to require that public borrowing and expenditures be reduced and government revenues be raised. "But Turkey doesn't have any public borrowing problem, but rather fiscal discipline, and so the program should take into consideration the current global conditions and Turkey's changing structure," he said. Simsek said that Turkey could easily meet its foreign finance needs of $30-15 billion this year as it has sufficient foreign exchange reserves. Touching on his talks in Davos, he said that he had had the opportunity to meet with many foreign investors there, who told him they find Turkey attractive despite the crisis. Simsek predicted that there would be direct foreign capital inflow to Turkey this year, particularly in energy, medicine and telecommunications. After a Cabinet meeting yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek said Turkey currently doesn't need any foreign financing but wants to get the IMF's symbolic support at a time of global economic crisis, as it is an important accreditation institution in the world economy.