Press Release No. 07/58

Press Release: Status of the Discussions on Review of Turkey's Stand-by Arrangement

March 21, 2007

Hugh Bredenkamp, the IMF Senior Resident Representative in Turkey, issued the following statement in Ankara today:

"An International Monetary Fund mission visiting Turkey for discussions on the authorities' economic program, which is supported under a three year Stand-by Arrangement, left Ankara on March 20.

"The mission, which was headed by Mr. Lorenzo Giorgianni, made good progress on a number of key policy issues, including measures to keep government spending in line with program targets. In discussions with the central bank, the mission endorsed the disinflation strategy and the current stance of monetary policy. On the structural side, the mission reached understandings with the authorities on a strategy for moving forward on social security reform, actions to continue strengthening revenue administration, and the next steps on banking sector reform.

"Further measures are needed, however, to secure the contribution of state enterprises to the program's fiscal targets. The authorities plan to work further on the options in this area over the coming days."