Chhibber: Many Reforms Were Undertaken In Public Sector

ANKARA (A.A) - 06.06.2002 - World Bank's Turkey Director Ajay Chhibber said on Thursday that even if there is political indefiniteness, the reaction of people to it is not that significant, adding that ''this is an important sign in respect of quality.''
Addressing the Third Public Quality Symposium, Chhibber said that many reforms were undertaken in public sector in the last three years, adding that a considerable progress was recorded in these reforms.
''In the coming months, these reforms should continue and be completed,'' he said, adding that the public sector reform is important as it covers the country, but it is also difficult as there is resistance to it.
''There are certain driving forces behind the public sector reform. The first one is the rules and limitations in the public sector. The second one needs to encourage participation of citizens to administration actively. The third one is to encourage the competition in the public sector. For instance, State Airlines can compete with the private airlines. The decentralization has to be brought to the system; without decentralization, there can be no local administration reform,'' he said.
Noting that important reforms were undertaken in public expenditure management, Chhibber said that if the public procurement law is implemented correctly, it will be an important progress for public expenditures. Chhibber pointed out that Turkey could not fully provide the competitive structure in the public sector yet.
Upon a question, Chhibber said that a banking system which is independent and which is far from politics will positively affect Turkey, the new code of obligations will restrict the borrowing and an independent Central Bank will be more effective in decreasing the inflation. All these reforms will make the public administration more effective, he added.