Daily Management Review

Turkey: We are not going to discuss borrowing from IMF anymore


10/08/2018


According to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the topic of the IMF lending will not be discussed anymore.



pixabay
pixabay
Ankara does not consider the fall of the national currency, the Turkish lira, as a reason to go into debt again.

“Modern Turkey does not need borrowing and other technical support from the IMF,” said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, noting that Ankara does not intend to apply for loans to the International Monetary Fund.

"Even the question is not that the paths of Turkey and the IMF overlap. This topic is closed forever," the Turkish leader said.

In 2002, the country's debt to the fund was $ 23.5 billion. In 2010, Ankara ceased to negotiate on attracting loans from the international organization. In 2013, Turkey paid off the last loan from the IMF.

The IMF loan discussion intensified due to the sharp fall of the Turkish lira in August 2018. Against this background, inflation began to rise. In September, consumer prices in Turkey rose by 24.52% in annual terms.

The fall of the lira began due to the aggravation of relations between Ankara and Washington, which increased duties on imports of Turkish aluminum and steel to 20% and 50%, respectively. Ankara, in turn, increased duties on 22 types of goods from the United States totaling $ 533 million. These included tobacco, alcohol, cars, cosmetics, rice and fruit.

source: reuters.com