Officials of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are to hold direct talks in Washington DC on April 25 and 26 with representatives of Turkey about a proposed deal that will see the fund give Turkey multi-billion dollar loan assistance, Turkish daily Milliyet reported on April 13 2009.

The meetings will be within the framework of the spring meetings of the IMF and World Bank. It is expected that IMF will not insist on structural changes, the newspaper said.

Up for discussion will be the general financial framework of the future agreement with the fund. The IMF has recently presented Turkey with a package of a new policy and proposals for reforms, the daily said, according to Bulgarian news agency Focus.

On April 13, Turkish daily Radikal said that economy minister Mehmet Simsek, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, had said that there were still difficult issues to be negotiated between Turkey and the IMF.

"We have not yet reached an agreement with the IMF. There are matters to be negotiated," he said, adding that the process could continue until the end of the month.

On April 10, Radikal quoted Simsek as saying that Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn had reached an agreement in principle.

He said one of the major principles under the deal was not to take additional measures to compensate for budget revenue loss caused by VAT and private consumption tax cuts.
The deal was expected to be approved by the IMF in May, Radikal said.