OT turkey gets IMF funding. USA strongly backed proposal
infobeat.com
This probably lets Motorola breathe easier, so long as the money isn't already spent on other things. Hmm, 3.8 billion available now, MOT is owed 678 million... looks like they'll have to stretch things out a bit over time.
..rr
InfoBeat - IMF approves $8 bln loan for Turkey
By HARRY DUNPHY
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - The International Monetary Fund approved $8
billion in new loans to Turkey to support a new economic recovery
plan designed to help ease the country's financial crisis.
Tuesday's approval means Turkey will have access $19 billion
from the IMF and the World Bank under previous or future loan
programs. The bank is committed to providing $2 billion in loans to
overhaul the banking system and help alleviate poverty.
Turkey's currency has plunged more than 40 percent since its
financial crisis struck in February, and about 500,000 people have
lost their jobs.
The IMF board acted after reviewing Turkey's recovery program. A
bank announcement said the decision meant Turkey could draw up to
$3.8 billion immediately. Further payments of $1.5 billion each can
be made June 25 and July 25, the announcement said.
The United States strongly backed the latest rescue program for
Turkey, a key NATO ally that serves as a base for military
operations in Iraq.
``The Turkish government embraced this reform program _ it is up
to them to make it work,'' Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill has
said. ``We are supporting them because we believe these reforms
will work.''
At a meeting of finance ministers from the seven main
industrialized nations in Washington last month, however, the
United States refused to provide bilateral aid as part of the
package.
O'Neill said the IMF and World Bank are the proper vehicles for
emergency lending, providing Turkey can satisfy their demands for
reform.
Turkey's parliament helped smooth the path to final confirmation
of the latest loan package, first pledged by the IMF last month, by
approving laws over the weekend to change banking practices and to
privatize Turk Telecom, the telephone monopoly.
The Turkish Economy Minister Kemal Dervis told the Financial
Times in London that he would resign if the government were to fail
to implement reforms pledged to international lenders.
In Turkey, a television station said Prime Minister Bulent
Ecevit has assured lenders his three-party coalition stands firmly
behind its economic pledges.
On the Net: World Bank: worldbank.org
IMF: imf.org |
