Dervis Says They Will Sign Letter Of Intent On Friday

WASHINGTON D.C., Jan 18 (A.A) - State Minister Kemal Dervis for Economy said on Friday that they would sign Turkey's letter of intent the same day, adding that he supposed the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Executive Directors Board would convene early in February for Turkey.
Dervis who accompanies Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit in the United States said that Central Bank Governor Sureyya Serdengecti and he would stay in Washington D.C. for some time while Ecevit and accompanying delegation were proceeding from Washington D.C. to New York.
Dervis held a joint press conference together with Serdengecti and Treasury Undersecretary Faik Oztrak while Ecevit and accompanying delegation were proceeding to New York.
Dervis said, ''we will sign the letter of intent today. I suppose that the IMF Executive Directors Board would convene early in February for Turkey.''
Dervis said that there was not any problem left in the letter of intent.
Defining Ecevit's visit to the United States as ''very positive'', Dervis said that the visit had political, military and economic dimensions, adding that also Foreign Minister Ismail Cem had held successful contacts in last three days and also very successful meetings on economy had been held.
Dervis said that they had explained the recovering atmosphere during their meetings with the American officials and that they had entered 2002 more powerfully.
Recalling that there were still problems and especially the low-income people were suffering economic problems in Turkey, Dervis said that a positive atmosphere had started to emerge despite those problems.
''We will see the effect of this positive atmosphere on the working section in coming months,'' he said.
Noting that the legal infrastructure in Turkey had changed with the support of the parliament and a dynamic and stable growth economy had been formed, Dervis said that this infrastructure would gradually become independent from individuals and this would be the guaranty of groups and institutions that were managing the economy in Turkey.
Responding a question about the banking law which was waiting for approval of President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, Dervis said, ''the President will use authority under the laws and the Constitution. Discussion of each dimension of such an important matter is natural.''
Responding another question about the steps that Turkey should take, Dervis said that those steps were recovery of investment atmosphere, decrees on transparency, restructuring of state banks and banking law.
Responding another question, Dervis said, ''necessary steps should be taken. If these steps are not finalized in coming days, meeting of the IMF Executive Directors Board may be postponed.''
Dervis added, ''we submitted the letter of intent to leaders of political parties forming the government. They have been aware of it since December 20. There is a legal process. There may be a delay, of course. However, I expect the IMF Board to convene early in February. Also the market expects this. However, it is wrong to consider it done before the meeting of the IMF Board. They will read the letter of intent at first.''
Meanwhile, Serdengecti said that 2001 had been a bad year regarding growth and unemployment but important steps had been taken to achieve rising growth rate again.
Serdengecti said that the Central Bank's intention was to make the inflation topped the agenda of Turkey as of 2002.
Meanwhile, Oztrak said that there had been recovery in the economy in December 2001 and implementation of economic programme had increased the economic activity.