WASHINGTON, D.C. - "The priorities (of Turkey) now are reestablishing fiscal discipline and continuing with prudent monetary policy to bring inflation back down to the 4-percent target over time," Masood Ahmed, director of External Relations Department of IMF said on Thursday.
At a press briefing at IMF HQ in Washington, D.C., Ahmed said, "I don`t have a specific response on steps that could be taken to deal with an increase in inflation (in Turkey). I think our view on the overall priorities for macro policy in Turkey remain that starting from the fact that we have had strong performance in recent years," when replying to a question whether there would be any additional measure or any talks between the IMF and Turkish government regarding any methods, any new additional steps that can be taken in regard to inflation figure.
"The priorities now are to consolidate that success by reestablishing fiscal discipline and continuing with prudent monetary policy to bring inflation back down to the 4-percent target over time. At the same time we also think that we do need to support the Turkish authorities` efforts to revitalize structural reforms to raise growth durably to the rates seen in other emerging markets," he stated.
Ahmed said, "on the overall point, I think our sense is that the government`s commitment to sustain good policies is unchanged. We think that the adoption of a tight budget and lifting of a 5-year freeze on end-user electricity tariffs are from this perspective very encouraging and strengthen the sense that the government will soon deliver on the other outstanding items in their reform agenda."
"That said, there are some outstanding items on the reform agenda, and, as I said, while there has been progress in a number of areas that would enable us to pave the way for the completion of the seventh review of the program that the Fund is supporting, passage of the social security law has taken longer than initially envisaged by the authorities and we do look now to progress being made in this key area so that we can complete the pending seventh review," he added.
(EÖ-MS)