Turkey's debt to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has fallen to $1.9 billion and the country will clear the debt by April 2013, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday. The amount owed to the IMF stood at $2.9 billion at the end of January, Erdogan said earlier this year.
Turkey's last standby agreement with the fund was in 2005 and expired in May 2008, according to the IMF's website.
In the past, the Turkish government relied on IMF loans to meet financial shortfalls but has managed to do without the aid since 2008.
"For more than four years we haven't had a stand-by agreement with the IMF," Erdogan told a meeting of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey in Ankara. His comments were broadcast live by TRT television.
Erdogan also said his government aims to lift the country's foreign currency and gold reserves to $100 million from $93 million.