Stimulus to cost 17 bln TL
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Reuters
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mart 06, 2009 00:00
ANKARA - Turkey's fiscal stimulus measures, aimed to stimulate a sharply slowing economy and create more jobs, will cost 17 billion Turkish Liras in 2009, Deputy Prime Minister Nazım Ekren said yesterday.
The steps include financial support for companies to curb layoffs and expand infrastructure spending.
"For the whole of 2009, the package which puts emphasis on public sector infrastructure investments and [stimulating] aggregate demand totals 17 billion liras," the Anatolia news agency quoted Ekren as saying during a trip to Washington.
Ekren is scheduled to meet International Monetary Fund, or IMF, officials as part of Turkey's protracted talks on a new IMF loan accord to help the country weather the global economic crisis. He said Parliament last week passed measures worth 5.5 billion liras in an effort to slow a sharp economic slowdown. The IMF expects Turkey's once booming economy to shrink 1.5 percent in 2009. The government retains an official 4 percent growth target.
The government will announce a medium-term fiscal program in a month, Ekren said. "I want to share that the fiscal loosening in 2009, caused by the global crisis, will disappear in the medium term." Turkey's narrow taxpayer base, a large informal economy and several past crises, partly caused by poor state finances, make creditors nervous about fiscal expansion steps.
"For the whole of 2009, the package which puts emphasis on public sector infrastructure investments and [stimulating] aggregate demand totals 17 billion liras," the Anatolia news agency quoted Ekren as saying during a trip to Washington.
Ekren is scheduled to meet International Monetary Fund, or IMF, officials as part of Turkey's protracted talks on a new IMF loan accord to help the country weather the global economic crisis. He said Parliament last week passed measures worth 5.5 billion liras in an effort to slow a sharp economic slowdown. The IMF expects Turkey's once booming economy to shrink 1.5 percent in 2009. The government retains an official 4 percent growth target.
The government will announce a medium-term fiscal program in a month, Ekren said. "I want to share that the fiscal loosening in 2009, caused by the global crisis, will disappear in the medium term." Turkey's narrow taxpayer base, a large informal economy and several past crises, partly caused by poor state finances, make creditors nervous about fiscal expansion steps.