Turkey will become top-20 partner in IMF, says Lewis

ISTANBUL - Anatolia News Agency

Brazil, Russia, India and China will become among the top-10 shareholders in the IMF in accordance due to the size of their economies, Lewis says. DHA photo

Turkey will become a top-20 partner to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as a result of ongoing reforms within the organization, according to Mark Lewis, the Turkey Chair of the fund at the Active Academy International Finance Summit in Istanbul Nov. 23.

The reform process will lead to higher voting power and enhance the roles of emerging markets in the IMF, he said.

Noting that some 6 percent of quota shares would be shifted from over-represented developed economies to under-represented developing-economy member countries, Lewis said: “As a result [of this shift] Brazil, Russia, India and China will become among the top-10 shareholders. And Turkey will enter the top-20, reflecting its economic weight.”

The last part of the reform may be completed in the beginning of the next year. If Turkey’s economy continues its soft landing, the economic indicators are favorable, Lewis said.

Marina Wes, lead economist for Turkey at the World Bank, said in her speech at the event that a growth rate between 4 and 5 percent for Turkey was realistic in the medium term, while Turkey is estimated to grow at 3 percent this year.

However, most of the Turkish economy’s difficulties are related to reducing the structural current account deficit, according to Wes. “We think that the current account deficit will stabilize at around 7 percent in the next few years,” she said. “[It can be decreased] by increasing internal savings, reducing external dependency in energy imports, developing renewable energy, increasing the ratio of exports to the gross domestic product and market diversification. All these measures will make Turkey less fragile in time,” she said.

According to Mukim Öztekin, president of the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK), the international rating agency Moody’s did not elevate Turkey’s rating to the deserved level, but did emphasize that Turkey was the only country in Europe with a positive outlook.