IMF says work on new deal with Turkey under way; deal in weeks

ISTANBUL - Work on a new International Monetary Fund loan deal with Turkey is still under way, and the an agreement is expected to be reached in the next several weeks, the managing director of the IMF said late Sunday.


"I believe that we will reach an agreement in the coming weeks," Dominique Strauss-Kahn told a news conference during the IMF/World Bank meetings in Washington, Reuters and the state-run Anatolian Agency reported.

He added that nothing has changed in the last four days of negotiations: "We had a long discussion. We are still working with them," according to the reports.

Turkish Economy Minister Mehmet Simsek flew to Washington on Thursday to continue negotiations with the fund on a standby agreement to help the country weather the global economic and financial crisis.

It has been almost a year since Turkey's $10 billion loan accord with the IMF expired, and the government has been in no hurry to secure a new deal despite calls from investors for a new agreement.

The Turkish economy has slumped in recent months, falling more than 6 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier. It was the first contraction since 2001, when the economy shrank nearly 10 percent in the final quarter due to a domestic financial crisis. link...