Türkiye's Central Bank governor, Durmus Yilmaz, told reporters on Tuesday that sufficient funds are not available to repay the country's International Monetary Fund debt ahead of schedule. He noted the obligation belongs to the government, not the Central Bank, and said he personally expects payment to proceed on its original due date.
Yilmaz also addressed the planned currency transition set for 1 January 2009, when the Central Bank intends to drop the word "New" from the New Turkish Lira (YTL), reverting to the plain Turkish lira designation. New banknotes issued at that time will include additional anti-counterfeiting measures. Türkiye had stripped six zeros from its currency in January 2005 as part of an effort to bring inflation into single digits.
On monetary policy, Yilmaz predicted that if interest rates remain unchanged, the central bank's inflation target could be met as early as the first quarter of 2008.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in November 2006, in its own words.