NEW YORK - Turkish Central Bank Governor Durmus Yilmaz said that continuation of structural reforms in Turkey has vital importance.
Speaking at "Turkey After 2008" conference organized by Foreign Economic Relations Board of Turkey (DEIK) in New York on Monday, Yilmaz said that after the financial crisis in Turkey in 2001, Central Bank was made independent which was an important step.
Stressing that inflation rate of Turkey which was 68.5 percent in 2001 dropped to 8.4 percent in 2007, Yilmaz said that Turkey --among 60 developing and developed countries-- is the only country which recorded such a decrease in inflation rate.
Yilmaz said that inflation rate in Turkey as of February 2008 is 4.36 percent, and target for the end of 2008 is 4 percent.
He added that budget deficit is under 2 percent according to recent figures. Yilmaz said that CB attaches importance to price stability as well as fiscal stability.
Noting that Turkish economy has been growing since 2002, Yilmaz said that with 7 percent growth rate (annual average) Turkey is one of the fastest growing economies in the world.
Yilmaz said that export rate of Turkey which was 31 billion USD in 2001 increased to 107 billion USD in 2007.
Noting that continuation of structural reforms in Turkey is vital, Yilmaz said that first one of these reforms is social security reform.
(GC)