ANKARA - Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that the basic aim of removing six zeros from Turkish lira (TL) banknotes was to have the national currency regain confidence and esteem.
Speaking at his Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Parliamentary Group meeting, Erdogan said that Turkey's esteem had been increasing in international platforms as a result of the successes it achieved in every field, particularly economy.
''Turkey is now reaching an esteemed country status it deserves,'' the Prime Minister stressed.
Noting that they had been removing all obstacles one by one on this process, Erdogan said that zeros in TL banknotes constituted an important factor that harmed factor of domestic and external confidence in Turkey and overshadowed its esteem and prestige.
Stressing that his government had undoubtedly won a victory in fight against high chronic inflation, Erdogan said that annual inflation would be reduced to one-digit numbers as of 2005.
''The operation of removing zeros from the banknotes which has been the dream of many governments so far is going to be conducted during our government's period. The draft law on removing six zeros from the banknotes has come to the parliament and commission has started reviewing it. We hope that the draft would be legalized soon and a new period for Turkey will start. While we are making this historical incident real, we basically aim to have our national currency regain confidence and esteem. Today there are only eight countries in the world which has banknotes with five zeros and more. The value of the biggest banknote among them is one hundred and one of them is one million. However, there are banknotes of twenty million liras in Turkey,'' he said.
''Our decision on removing zeros from the banknotes is not a private choice but an economic requirement,'' Erdogan said.
About the stages of removing six zeros from the banknotes, Erdogan said, ''the name of our new currency is 'New Turkish lira'. And its abbreviation is YTL. Its sub unit is 'New kurus' and its abbreviation is YKr. One New Turkish lira will be equal to one hundred New kurus. Today's one million TL will be equal to one New Turkish lira. New banknotes will be in circulation as of January 1, 2005. The smallest coin will be one New kurus and the biggest banknote will be one hundred New Turkish lira. Today's TL banknotes and coins will be no more in circulation after December 31, 2005.'' ''In the second stage of this operation that will happen after 2006, the word of 'New' in front of the 'Turkish lira' will be lifted,'' Prime Minister Erdogan added.
(MS-AY) 20.01.2004