Turkish officials agree to take steps against global economic crisis
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Turkey's high-level economy officials agreed that the steps needed to be taken to reduce the impact of the global financial turmoil and vowed to maintain fiscal discipline as well as price stability.
"It would be beneficial to take steps that would increase the strength of our economy given the depth of the existing global crisis and the fact that it would go on for a while despite the positive sides of our economy," said the statement released late on Monday after the Economy Coordination Committee meeting.  Â
The Economy Coordination Committee convened under the presidency of Deputy Prime Minister Nazim Ekren in the Turkish capital
Turkish State Minister Hayati Yazici, Economy Minister Mehmet Simsek, Trade Minister Kursad Tuzmen, Finance Minister Kemal Unakitan, Industry Minister Zafer Caglayan, Labor Minister Faruk Celik, as well as high-level bureaucrats and representatives of the business world attended the meeting.
"The top priority for the coming period should be limiting the negative effects of the global economic slowdown, the expected recession, especially in the larger economies of the European Union, and reduction in financial sources that we could experience in our country's economy through trade and capital inflows.
"The steps in that direction would be taken with protecting our priorities of fiscal discipline and price stability," the statement added.
Among the topics the committee unanimously agreed on was the necessity to take off the load from financial operations, said the statement.
The committee also vowed to take measures to reduce the negative effects of the global developments on employment and to continue the privatization process, as well as efforts to improve the investment environment.