Unakitan: One Of Our Goals Is To Reduce Real Interest Rates

ANKARA - Turkish Finance Minister Kemal Unakitan said, ''one of our goals is to lower real interest rates,'' noting that the target was 7 percent.
Unakitan held a press conference on budget and developments in economy on Friday.
Lowering interests rates would decrease debt burden of public sector and direct capital to real investments, he stressed.
Unakitan noted that the government intended to maintain economy stable, pursue healthy financial policies and keep making structural reforms.

-BUDGET DEFICIT-
Unakitan noted that budget deficit amounted to 2,071 trillion Turkish liras (TL) while primary surplus amounted to 3,460 trillion TL in August 2004. (One dollar equals 1.510.000 TL).
Stating that expenses amounted to 88.9 quadrillion TL while incomes amounted to 70.8 quadrillion TL in the first eight months of 2004, he noted that budget deficit was 18 quadrillion TL and primary surplus amounted to 22,569 trillion TL in the first eight months of this year.

-FOREIGN TRADE-
Finance Minister Unakitan stated that Turkey's foreign trade volume reached to 141 billion U.S. dollars in 2004, noting that the country's export amounted to 60 billion U.S. dollars, while imports were 81 billion U.S. dollars in the last 12 months.
Stressing that they monitor closely foreign trade deficit, he noted that consumer expenses stemming from imports of automobile and increase in imports of investment goods increased foreign trade deficit.

-TOURISM INCOMES-
Unakitan said that European experts guessed that 17 million tourists would visit Turkey in 2010, stating that they were close to this goal right now.
Tourism incomes per capita increased this year, he also stressed.
(End)
(EÖ-ULG) 17.09.2004