IMF, Turkey to meet soon over loan deal

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WASHINGTON, April 11 (AFP): The International Monetary Fund said Friday it would meet Turkish authorities soon to finalise a long-delayed standby loan which reportedly could be reach 45 billion dollars.
"IMF staff and the Turkish authorities are currently actively engaged in discussing a policy package that could be supported by a stand-by arrangement," said Angela Gaviria, spokesperson for the Washington-based IMF.
"As part of this engagement, the IMF mission team and the authorities are preparing to meet soon, either in Ankara or Washington," she said. She declined to confirm the loan amount.
Turkish newspapers reported Friday that Ankara was hoping to conclude in May the new stand-by deal with the IMF that could be worth up to 45 billion dollars.
The daily Referans newspaper quoted Economy Minister Mehmet Simsek as saying that the government had agreed with the IMF on basic principles and officials in Ankara were currently drawing up the technical framework of the deal.
"We have agreed that the budget will produce a deficit, or in other words, that we will not compensate for the decrease in tax revenues triggered by the contraction of the economy in 2009," Simsek said, adding that the government would set a limit on expenditure.
"Turkey is now working on the macro-economic framework. The IMF should accept that framework; we do not expect there to be a problem but there could be some bargaining on issues such as the budget deficit," he said.