Babacan: Turkish Government Is Near To Completing Its New Economic Program

AFYON (CIHAN) - The Turkish State Minister Responsible for Economy, Ali Babacan stated on Wednesday that the Turkish Government is close to completing its plans for the new economic program that takes into account the economic realities of Turkey.
Attending a meeting organized by Afyon Chamber of Industry and Trade in Afyon Babacan stated, "This program will protect the economy against internal and external shocks. We will announce the details of the program in mid September".
Noting that it is not possible to tax retirement pay for retired citizens, Babacan said that such reports concerning it are baseless and he added, "We are watching the current account deficit carefully. The rate of the current account deficit as a percentage of the Gross National Product (GNP) is 3.5 percent or 4 percent. There is no a serious concern regarding the current deficit and the necessary measures will be taken, if they are necessary."
"Real interest rates are still high and we expect that they will decrease in the future. The 17 percent budget deficit rate in the national income in 2001 decreased to 11 percent in 2003 and this year it is expected to fall to 9 percent." Babacan said.
Babacan added that an IMF delegation headed by IMF Turkish Desk Chief, Riza Moghadam will come to Turkey this week at the invitation of Babacan.