Saturday, 19 September 2009
Managing Director of IMF Dominique Strauss-Kahn said 2009 had been a tough year for Turkish economy but estimated a quick recovery in 2010.
Strauss-Kahn told AA correspondent in Washington D.C. that like all developing countries Turkey was affected by the financial crisis noting however that its impact was indirect.
He said the financial crisis caused a global economic recession, and this had an impact on all economies including Turkey.
IMF Chief said Turkey as a member of the G-20, was one of the largest economies in the world.
"Obviously, Turkey is a developing country at the moment but it will rapidly transform into a developed and strong economy. Of course, there are steps that need to be taken for this and I believe this government knows what is to be done to make that happen" said Strauss-Kahn expressing full confidence in the future of Turkey's economy.
He said IMF was an institution that helped needy countries underlining that there were no indicators showing Turkey needed any help. He said however that the fund would continue to be in Turkey's service and continue talking to the Turkish government.
Straus-Kahn told a group of reporters in IMF HQs in Washington that the upcoming IMF and World Bank annual meetings in Istanbul, Turkey, which will be held shortly after the G-20 meeting was a good opportunity for the implementation of the agreed policies in Pittsburgh.
In an IMF interview published Friday, Straus-Kahn said he expected the global economy to recover from recession in the first half of 2010, but it would take some time for unemployment levels to decline.
IMF chief who pointed out that the global economy could even recover sooner said, "but if we have in mind that the global economy will only fully recover when unemployment goes down, then it will take more time. Because as everybody knows, there is some delay between the time when growth comes back and the time when the employment situation improves."
Strauss-Kahn said while much progress had been made in enforcing stricter financial regulations, there was still a long way to go.
"A lot has been done analyzing the causes of the crisis,and trying to find solutions. Now, to get from here to establishing new regulations and implementing reforms in each and every country, there are a lot of things still to do," he said.
"Everybody understands that, 18 months after the beginning of the crisis, we still haven't fixed the lack of regulation --not only in terms of compensation but in other areas as well."
Strauss-Kahn said the IMF and World Bank annual meetings in Istanbul, Turkey, next month would focus on policies for combatting impact of the crisis and new ways to boost growth.
"Now is not the time to implement exit strategies. But we have to discuss them, bearing in mind that the global economy will not be the same after the crisis. It will be a different kind of economy -- maybe with fewer imbalances, but less growth," he said.
"In Istanbul, we want to show that if we want to avoid other crisis like this one, we need economic cooperation of this kind," he added.
