A call to hit the brakes

Bloomberg

refid:11830842 ilişkili resim dosyası

The government is preparing a revised three-year economic plan and "there’s no serious difference between the IMF option and the no-IMF option," Yılmaz told reporters in Ankara. "We need to show how the fiscal balance will be restored in the medium- to long- term."

Turkey has been in talks with the IMF over a new deal since a $10-billion accord expired in May 2008. The country is preparing economic options "with or without the IMF," Economy Minister Ali Babacan said on Monday.

Face-to-face talks with the IMF broke down in January over the government’s spending plans. Since then, Turkey’s first recession in seven years has reduced revenue from import and company taxes just as the government increases expenditure to combat rising unemployment.

In the first four months of 2009, the overall budget deficit rose to 20.1 billion liras ($12.9 billion), double the original goal for the whole of the year. It is also about 42 percent of a revised target of 48 billion liras the government announced on April 13.