An International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation began talks with Turkish officials here on Monday, November 5 to evaluate progress in economic reforms before releasing $3.1 billion dollars (3.3 billion euros) under a May stand-by deal, a treasury official said.
Reviews by the IMF team, led by the Fund's Turkey desk chief Juha Kahkonen, are held on a regular basis and are expected to last about two weeks. The agenda of the meetings included a wide range of issue, including Turkey's economic performance this year and targets for 2002.
The release of the installment has been delayed since early October amid efforts to outline tighter financial policies for 2002. The two sides were also expected to take up Turkey's efforts to secure additional financial aid from international donors to battle the economic fallout of international tensions following the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, the official told AFP.
Turkey and the Fund agreed in May on a new program of strict reforms following a severe financial turmoil in February that destroyed an earlier IMF-backed recovery scheme. If the program remains on track, Turkey will have received a total of $15.7 billion in aid from the IMF and the World Bank by the end of the year.
Without specifying an amount, Ankara has recently appealed for additional foreign funds to support the program in the face of global economic woes. Economy Minister Kemal Dervis said last week that an agreement with international donors on extra assistance was expected soon.
He also appealed to the Group of Seven industrialized countries to back "efforts to meet mid-term foreign financing needs, which will be discussed and finalized with international financial institutions in the coming days."
Many observers here believe that Turkey's importance in the US-led struggle against terrorism as the only mainly Muslim country in NATO will open the taps of international money channels.
Last Thursday Turkey announced that it would send some 90 elite troops to Afghanistan at a request by Washington, becoming the first Muslim country to commit military support for the anti-Taliban campaign. — (AFP, Ankara)
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
