ANKARA - State Minister Ali Babacan said on Tuesday that there seemed to be no obstacle before the loan of 8.5 billion U.S. dollars planned to be given by the United States to Turkey.
Babacan, who chatted with reporters in the Treasury Undersecretariat, recalled that the condition of release of 8.5 billion U.S. dollars loan was completion of the fifth review with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and continuation of the economic program in practice without any delays.
A delegation would go to Washington on August 18 to work on the mentioned loan, Babacan noted.
Babacan stated that they wanted IMF experts to join those meetings.
Underlining that they should be more cautious with such loans, Babacan said that such loans could not be used in financial tables unless a contract was signed.
Babacan said that the loan was not a ''sine qua non'' but if it was released, it would reduce interest pressure.
That loan could be released in 3-4 or 5 installments, Babacan noted.
Babacan pointed out that the most appropriate schedule would be preferred according to situation of Treasury's finance when the time to get the loan would come.
Upon a question, Babacan stated that Turkey also wanted to extend support to Iraq's restructuring but that support could mainly be in loans.
Babacan said that they saw a pressure on interest rates in 2004 and 2005 and therefore, they preferred a normal debt repayment schedule instead of paying back the debts a year earlier.
Pointing out that such repayment plan would provide a relief of 5 points in debt rolling over ratio, Babacan said that they had a similar repayment plan option for the period after 2006.
Babacan noted that debt repayment interests were around 4 percent, which was the normal stand-by interest rate, adding that it was below the market borrowing cost.
(BRC-AÖ) 05.08.2003