Main opposition CHP leader criticizes new economic program

ANKARA

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has slammed the government’s new economic program, claiming that it was prepared after government authorities held secret meetings with a delegation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

“The new program is an IMF program. The IMF came and they talked [with the government] for days. Their old program did not work. When the IMF delegation met with our friends, the truth was revealed. Or else, no one would have heard of the IMF’s arrival,” Kılıçdaorğlu said on Oct. 2.

“They are holding secret meetings with the IMF,” he said.

Kılıçdaroğlu’s remarks came at the parliamentary group meeting of the CHP, one day after the new legislative year started on Oct. 1.

Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak on Sept. 30 announced the new economic program of Turkey for the three-year period starting from 2020.

“A program is being revealed nearly monthly. How would [Albayrak] know poverty? The IMF came, they made a new program and handed over to [Albayrak],” Kılıçdaroğlu said.

“Last year, growth rate was 2.3 percent. The newly announced figure is 0.5 percent. Because that is what the IMF is saying,” he added.

Unemployment has hit 12.1 percent, while young unemployment rate reached 25 percent, the CHP leader conveyed.

“They projected the inflation rate to be 8 percent, now [the expectation] is over 12 percent. What are they projecting? They have been imposing what the IMF has been setting forth,” he said.

The top IMF officials met with representatives of the CHP and oppositional İYİ (Good) Party as part of its Article 4 consultation, an annual economic assessment of each of the fund’s member countries.

Ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) group deputy chair Mehmet Muş had criticized the meeting, saying “The CHP, of course, can hold such a meeting. But why is the meeting being held in hotel rooms discreetly?”

Responding to the AKP claims, CHP deputy chair and spokesperson Faik Öztrak had said, “We did not have a secret conversation. If Mr. Raci [Kaya, the fund’s executive director appointed by the Turkish government] is not aware [of the meeting], it’s his problem.”