Turkey delays welfare bill implementation to Oct.
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Turkey's IMF-backed reform of its social security system will go into effect from October, rather than August as previously planned, the state-run Anatolian news agency reported on Wednesday.
Parliament is currently debating the already long-delayed reform and the government hopes to push the bill through the assembly this week. The Anatolian said the change to the date of implementation was made during the debate.
Turkey's social security deficit exceeded 25 billion Turkish lira ($20 billion) or 4 percent of GDP in 2007, and officials warned it would reach nearly 30 billion Turkish lira this year if the reform is not passed. The long-delayed social security reform aims to cut this huge deficit and one of the conditions for the release of a 1.3 billion dollar IMF loan tranche.
The government and unions reached consensus on some portions of the bill after the debate was opened in Parliament on March 27, including a figure of 7,200 working days needed for blue-collar workers to reach retirement. But no agreement was reached on a one key part of the package, more closely followed by financial markets and the International Monetary Fund, to raise the retirement age to 65
Turkey's leading unions also launched a mass demonstration against the IMF-sought social security reform twice at the beginning of April.