Turkey Aıms To Cut Current Account Defıcıt Says Mınıster
Turkish Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek said Friday that Turkey aims to cut its current account deficit to a reasonable level in the medium to long term.
Speaking to reporters , Simsek said there is no concern about financing the widening current account deficitthat reducing the deficit to zero isn ' t on the government ' s agenda .
Turkey ' s current account posted a deficit of $4 . 361 billion in April this year , compared with a deficit of $1 . 583 billion in the corresponding month of 2009 , the country ' s central bank earlier said Friday .
In the first four months of 2010 , the current account deficit widened to $14 . 251 billion from a deficit of $3 . 562 billion in the comparable period of 2009 .
Simsek said Turkey ' s economy may grow by between 10%14% in the first quarter of this year , but warned that double-digit growth in the second quarter was a low probability .
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday that Turkey ' s economy is expected to grow between 6%7% in 2010 .
The International Monetary Fund expects Turkey ' s gross domestic product to rise by 6 . 25% in 2010 .
Turkish GDP rose 6% on the year in the fourth quarter , after a 2 . 9% contraction in the third quarter , the most recent figures show . GDP contracted 4 . 7% in 2009 as a whole .
In April , Turkish Economy Minister Ali Babacan said that the government in June was likely to revise its forecast for 2010 economic growth higher . It currently predicts a 3 . 5% expansion .
( YC-YC-E-ENG )
