Economy minister Ali Babacan said that Turkey’s debt to the IMF would decline to USD 20bn as of end-2004. In his statement Babacan once again noted that Turkey would be net debt payer in the coming years, although it would receive loan from the IMF under the new stand-by programme.
The programme would be completed in a short period of time, he also said. With regard to the World Bank loans, the minister said that they foresaw the receipt of USD 500mn tranche of the loan provided to support structural reforms in early 2005.
The talks with the Bank, regarding USD 1.2bn worth three programmatic loans, which are planned to be
used in 2005 and 2006, continue, he furthered. Babacan also noted that they agreed with the Bank for USD 591mn worth of loan to be provided for investment in different sectors.