IMF confident Turkey will pass pension reform

"I'm confident in the government that they will succeed in this," Strauss-Kahn told a news conference ahead of this weekend's IMF and World Bank meetings in Washington. Turkey's $10 billion IMF program expires on May 10 but a key IMF concern is the country's failure to pass social security reforms. Parliament is currently debating the reforms, a condition for approval of a remaining $3.6 billion in IMF loans. Unions have held mass demonstration to protest the bill and demand its withdrawal. An International Monetary Fund team finished its work on a loan review in Ankara on Thursday, Turkish Economy Minister Mehmet Simsek said earlier on Thursday, adding that the two sides had reached an agreement in general terms.Simsek said Turkey aimed for a loan tranche of about $3.7 billion to be released before its standby agreement with the lender ends in May. "The conditions are in place for the current review to be successful; I can say that there was agreement along general lines," he told a news conference at an Istanbul airport, before leaving for the United States. He said no decision had been made on what kind of deal would replace the $10 billion standby deal when it expired. Simsek has said on Wednesday that Turkey did not need IMF's financial support and it would opt for an accord less stringent than a standby such as a precautionary standby deal. The IMF has acted as an anchor for Turkey's economy since a 2001 financial crisis. The IMF team would leave on Thursday, Simsek said.Photo: AA