Ankara may alter relationship with IMF

Turkey’s government unveiled its 2008 budget in October 2007. It envisages a sharp rise in public spending and a lowering of a key fiscal savings target that has formed the central pillar of its $10bn loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund. Kemal Unakitan, Turkey's Finance Minister, said the primary surplus – the budget surplus before interest payments – would be 5.5 per cent in the 2008 budget, compared with 6.5 per cent in each year since Turkey and the IMF agreed a recovery package from a devastating financial crisis in 2001.

International Monetary Fund: Country information: Turkey and the IMF http://www.imf.org/external/country/TUR/index.htm

---