World Bank committed to accompany Türkiye to help stabilize economy

By Merve Ozlem Cakir

ANKARA (AA) – The World Bank is committed to accompany Türkiye in the implementation of policies to help stabilize the economy, according to the bank's country director.

"In addition to our ongoing $17 billion program, over the next three years we anticipate preparing and presenting new operations to the World Bank Group’s Board for $18 billion," Humberto Lopez said in an interview with Anadolu.

This amount includes direct lending to the government as well as support to the private sector, he explained.

The package, with tentative total financing of around $35 billion when all financing instruments are considered, “responds to the strong commitment shown, and more importantly the actions taken, by the administration to restore macroeconomic stability," Lopez stressed.

Praising Türkiye's economic performance over the last two decades, Lopez highlighted that persistent inflation, an overvalued exchange rate, and fiscal pressures emerging from the spending needs associated with the devastating earthquakes this February put this track record at risk.

"In this regard, we believe that the monetary policy tightening being implemented by the Central Bank, the unwinding of distortive financial regulations, and the fiscal revenue measures to curtail the fiscal deficit being pursued by the Ministry of Finance are steps in the right direction," he said.

The remarks came on the heels of Wednesday’s unveiling of the government’s medium-term economic program, aiming for average 4.5% GDP growth in 2024-2026, joining high-income countries with an economic size exceeding $1.3 trillion, and using monetary, fiscal, and income policies to eliminate structural factors that lead to high inflation.