IMF didn't ask to borrow money from Turkey, former Central Bank head says to refute Erdoğan's claim

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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) didn't ask to borrow money from Turkey, former Central Bank head Durmuş Yılmaz said to refute President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's claim.

Erdoğan on Aug. 10 repeated his claim that the IMF asked to borrow 5 billion dollars from Turkey when commenting on the country's current economic situation, as he tried to downplay the Turkish Lira's sharp loss of value.

Following Erdoğan's remarks, Yılmaz, who is currently the deputy leader of the right-wing Good (İYİ) Party, said that no record of such borrowing exists in the Central Bank balance.

"This is a lie. The issue is technical. In short, the IMF didn't ask to borrow money from us. A commitment was made to a contingency fund and it wasn't realized. The proof: There is no such record on the Central Bank balance," Yılmaz tweeted early on Aug. 11.

Şu IMF’ye $5 mia borç verme konusu.
En ağır kelimeyi kullanmak için çok zorladım, bulabildiğim kelime YALAN. Konu çok teknik. Kısacası IMF bizden borç istemedi. İhtiyati bir fona TAAHHÜTTE bulunuldu.Taahhüt gerçekleşmedi. İspatı: MB bilançosunda böyle bir bir borç kaydı yok.

— Durmuş Yılmaz (@DurmusYillmaz) August 10, 2020

During his speech, Erdoğan also criticized Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA) leader Ali Babacan, who served as economy and then foreign minister before becoming deputy prime minister, over "lecturing us on economy."

"Then-minister [Babacan] asked, 'Should we give them this money?' I said, 'Let's give,'" he said, before turning to Babacan's suggestions on getting loans from the IMF to get Turkey's economy back on track.

"Those who get loans today would receive instructions tomorrow," Erdoğan added.

Babacan responded to Erdoğan's criticism on Twitter, saying "Turkey was powerful enough to give the IMF loans when I stepped down from my post."

"However, unfortunately, there is a government that asks people for money," Babacan said.

Sayın Cumhurbaşkanı'nın tespitine katılıyorum. Ekonomi yönetimini teslim ettiğimde Türkiye, IMF'ye borç verebilecek güçteydi. Fakat bugün maalesef IBAN verip halktan yardım isteyen bir yönetim var.

— Ali Babacan (@alibabacan) August 10, 2020

He also shared a video of himself dated May 14, 2013 when he paid-off Turkey's debt to the IMF via paying the last installment.

"The economy is all of our concern. We are not lecturing, but proposing solutions," Babacan added.

In early 2012, the IMF asked member countries to give contributions following its decision to create an additional resource worth 500 billion dollars.

The IMF then decided that 264 billion dollars would be sufficient and chose to obtain this resource from 40 countries.

Turkey was among the countries that pledged 5 billion dollars, but the transaction didn't take place since IMF reserves didn't decrease to critical levels.

Turkey should choose cheap IMF loans over high-cost borrowing from markets, Babacan suggests