IMF chief Lagarde to meet PM in Turkey trip

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

IMF chief Lagarde is expected to discuss Turkey’s economic outlouk. AFP photo

The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde is expected to come to Turkey to meet with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and members of the Turkish business community for one-on-one meetings tomorrow, according to daily Milliyet.

Lagarde is expected to discuss Turkey’s economic outlook and the possibility of increasing Turkey’s voting rights at the IMF, according to the newspaper’s webssite.

Along with Turkey, some leading emerging economies, such as Brazil and South Korea, also claim more say in both the IMF and World Bank.

Last month, in a speech she made in Washington D.C., Lagarde referred to Turkey’s previous economy minister Kemal Derviş as “Turkey’s brave economy minister.”

Lagarde said that it was due in part to his reform program that Turkey was able to reach the level of economic development it was at today.

The IMF expects Turkey’s 2012 economic growth to be 2.3 percent, way below the official 4.5 percent forecast of the Turkish government. Several cabinet ministers have repeatedly claimed that the country would grow even around 5 percent.

The monetary fund’s 2013 growth forecast for Turkey stands at 3.2 percent in 2013.