Word: demirel
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...austerity program immediately released about $300 million in loans and grants from the West that had been held up until Turkey gave proof of its fiscal responsibility. The unanswered question is whether Demirel's measures will really help in the long run. OPEC price hikes will soon add around $100 million more to the country's monthly fuel bill of $150 million. State-run factories will be forced to choose between raising prices sky high or laying off thousands of workers-at a time when unemployment is already running at 20%. The discontent of the jobless can only...
When Premier Suleyman Demirel took office in November, he warned his countrymen to brace themselves for a long, hard winter. Last week Turkey was quite literally shivering through one of the worst cold spells in 30 years. Largely because of a lack of foreign exchange, the country had virtually run out of fuel oil, and thousands of homes and offices were without heat. As if that were not suffering enough, Demirel chose the moment to introduce draconian new fiscal measures, which one Western diplomat in Ankara called "the most significant economic step taken in Turkey since World...
...dramatic measure was yet another devaluation of the lira, this time by nearly 50%; since last January, the value of Turkey's basic currency unit has fallen from 25 to the dollar to 70. Demirel also served notice on Turkey's sluggish, over-manned state enterprises, which account for more than half of the country's industrial production, that they would have to operate under market conditions. Last year government payments for public sector deficits accounted for one-third of the national budget and were a major factor in the soaring inflation rate. To raise foreign exchange...
...immediate fallout of Demirel's program was an across-the-board rise in prices The cost of gasoline and other petroleum products shot up by 50% to 100%, bank interest rates by 22%. "It is true that the new measures will produce higher prices and therefore hardships," said one government economist, "but inflation was doing that anyway, so the situation has changed little for the genera public." In truth, Demirel had to do something-anything-to straighten out the economy. Inflation was approaching 100%, foreign exchange reserves have fallen below $500 million, and the country had virtually no credit...
...whatever we had to do, Demirel told TIME Correspondent Roland Flamini last week. "The public will surely understand. The situation was very bad, the remedy must be very strong. ] we take no decision to stop it, the goddam inflation will go to 120% and 180%. If you don't take steps, it ultimately can destroy a society. Inflation makes the fertile land desert...