ANKARA - "Monetary policy will not suffice alone in the fight against inflation, a tight fiscal discipline is also needed," Turkish State Minister Ali Babacan said on Thursday.
"We are more optimistic on inflation than the markets and we believe that 4 percent is a reachable target," Babacan told journalists at a meeting in which he announced Turkey`s borrowing program for 2007.
Babacan linked what he called economic achievements in Turkey to an environment of confidence together with fiscal discipline and structural reforms.
Babacan stood firm on fiscal discipline: "We will not make any concessions in the fiscal discipline because it is one of the most crucial elements in the fight against inflation."
The Turkish minister stated that Turkey would have met by mid-2007 the second economic criterion of the European Union when it reduced the public borrowing under 50 percent of its GDP, a figure well below a 60 percent the Maastricht economic criteria demands from member countries.
Babacan saw no risks for economy in 2007.
"We feel quite comfortable with 2007 and we believe that it will another successful year," he said.