Minister: Turkey and IMF agree on draft letter of intent
Güncelleme Tarihi:
State Minister Mehmet Simsek said Turkey and the IMF agreed on a draft letter of intent regarding the stand-by reviews, at a press meeting at Ataturk Airport following his visit to United States where he attended the annual spring meeting of the IMF and World Bank.
Turkey's state minister said on Friday that Turkey and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had agreed on a draft letter of intent. "The IMF board of executives is expected to meet at the beginning of May, and release around $3.7 billion of loan for Turkey," Simsek told
reporters at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport.
Simsek has recently returned from the United States, where he attended the annual spring meeting of the IMF and World Bank. The Turkish minister said Turkey would have a greater influence in the IMF in coming years as its quota was raised.
Simsek also said Turkey foresees to acquire $6.2 billion of resources from the World Bank till the end of 2011. Simsek added that Turkey had a sound economy management determined to monitor world economic developments closely, and not to make
concessions of cautious policies.
On recent fluctuations on global financial markets, Simsek said the fluctuations had a limited impact on Turkey, thanks to Turkey's strong
macro-economic policies and cautious monetary and financial policies. "This is a clear indicator of how resistant our economy is to economic shocks," Simsek told reporters. Simsek said he believes similar foreign shocks would continue to affect Turkey in coming days, however they would have limited impact.
On Turkey's bid to become a member of the African Development Bank, Simsek said the board of governors of the bank was expected to meet in the following month to vote Turkey's membership.
Minister Simsek arrived in the U.S. capital, Washington D.C. on April 11th, spoke in a conference held by George Washington University and a meeting at the Brookings Institution.
Simsek had talks with David McCormick, undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Treasury for International Affairs, and World Bank
President Robert Zoellick. Minister Simsek attended a meeting of the International Monetary & Financial Committee (IMFC), and addressed a lunch organized on the occasion of the 27th annual American-Turkish Council meetings.
The Turkish minister met foreign investors in New York, attended a meeting which the Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch hosted in his honor, met high-level officials of international investment and rating institutions like EFG&JP Morgan, Moodys and S&P.
Simsek proceeded to Belgium on 17th, and spoke in a meeting organized by the Economic Development Foundation of Turkey on "Window to Turkey".