--- Rob Schaap <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> I was gonna talk about Indonesia's own chain reaction potential, too - but I
> seem to have reached my doomsaying limit for now.
>
> Y'all have a nice day now!
> Rob.
>
Hey!
Please tell me more about this cause I don't think there are any limits to doomsaying!
Being a Turk going through a major financial crisis with dire social consequences, how
the hell am
I supposed to have a nice day now?
By the way, I hope your "Bloody Monday" in where you are is happier than mine.
Sabri
+++++
Enjoy this one (Q: You load 16 tons and what do you get? A: Of course, you get deeper
in debt!):
Turkey PM Promises Economic Plan
By SUZAN FRASER
ANKARA, Turkey, March 12 (Associated Press) - Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit on Monday
promised a
new program within days to help Turkey out of its economic crisis, but investors fled
the stock
market, sending the index plummeting.
The stock exchange's main index closed 866.75 points down, or 9.11 percent lower, at
8,647.01 from
March 2, when markets closed for a nine-day religious holiday. The Turkish lira lost
two percent
of its value against the dollar Monday compared to March 2. The dollar closed at
927,802 lira.
``Our preparation are progressing very productively,'' Ecevit told reporters following
meetings
with economy minister Kemal Dervis. ``It will take a few days more.''
Turkey's economy has been in tatters since the government abandoned currency exchange
rate
controls last month. The lira has lost a quarter of its value against the dollar,
setting off
price hikes. Some companies have begun laying off staff.
Dervis, who held talks with U.S. officials and international lenders in Washington
last week, has
said Turkey would seek foreign financing for the program. He gave no details on the
plan and did
not say how much support the recovery program would need.
State Minister Sukru Sina Gurel, the government spokesman, said that Turkey will
consult closely
with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank on the plan.
``It will be devised by us, taking into account our special conditions, but of course
there will
be cooperation with the IMF and the World Bank,'' Gurel said.
Analysts say Turkey will need to devise a strong and convincing recovery plan to get
any
international funding. The previous three-year plan, which collapsed, was backed by
$11.5 billion
in IMF loans.
Reports have said that reforming Turkey's troubled banking system will be central to
the new plan.
Turkey's money-losing state-run banks are expected to be merged and privatized within
the year.
Under the new plan, the government's banking regulatory board is expected to be given
greater
powers, including the right to close down money-losing private banks, reports said.
The government
has bailed out 12 troubled private banks in the past two years.
Turkey also hopes to sell off 51 percent of the state telecommunications company under
the new
plan, according to news reports.
The new plan will also revise targets for reducing inflation. Under the earlier
IMF-backed plan
Turkey was pressing to slash inflation to single digits by 2002. Inflation today
stands at around
26 percent and analysts say it is likely to rise to between 45 and 50 percent by
year's end.
The crisis was touched off by a feud between Ecevit and President Ahmet Necdet Sezer
which
undermined confidence in the country's stability and led foreign investors to withdraw
money from
Turkey.
__________________________________________________
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