Turkey aims to reach a "tentative" loan deal with IMF in early April

Bloomberg

“While we agree in principle where we should be headed we think that the timing of some steps may be counterproductive in the current circumstances,” Simsek said today in an interview with Bloomberg Television from the Group of 20 finance ministers’ meeting in Horsham, England. Turkey and the IMF were “very close to a deal in January,” he said.

Talks broke down in January over spending on local municipalities and tax collection.

The Washington-based IMF said this month it “stands ready” to resume negotiations and Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said his government may reduce spending by as much as 6 percent to meet IMF demands.

IMF loans are in demand as developing nations struggle with the financial crisis. Turkey, which is seeking to spend its way out of a probable recession, has external financing needs of about $30 billion, according to its central bank.

In the past six months, the IMF has approved $16.4 billion for Ukraine, $15.7 billion for Hungary, $10.4 billion for Latvia, $2.5 billion for Belarus, $2.1 billion for Iceland, $7.6 billion for Pakistan and $516 million for Serbia -- a total of about $55 billion.