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By Zubeyde Yalcın
Sabah, Istanbul
(A morning newspaper)
Sunday, November 11, 2012
http://english.sabah.com.tr/economy/2012/11/1...sts-shift-fr...
During his
stay in Indonesia, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan brought up an interesting
suggestion for the International Monetary Fund.
Stating that
although IMF assistance may
appear to be a
prescription for some nations, in fact it is
quite the opposite, as the fund
has often caused serious problems for countries
in trouble. So Erdogan asks
why it is that the fund
uses dollars instead of gold.
Saying that
he doesn't feel it is
right for the IMF to act according
to one nation's currency,
Erdogan states, "The IMF extends
aid on a 'who, where, how, and on what
conditions' basis. For example, if the IMF is under the influence of any single currency, then they are going to rule the world based on the exchange rates of that
particular currency.
"Why do we not switch then to a monetary unit such as gold, which is at the very
least an international constant and indicator that has maintained its honor throughout
history? This is something to think about."
Explaining that
Turkey had to pay a heavy price
for the agreement it made with
the IMF, Erdogan stated,
"We have not made a
standby agreement for the past three
periods. In April we will have zeroed out our debt completely
and we have no intentions of working
with the IMF again."
Prime Minister Erdogan went on to state: "One would
hope that the IMF would help countries in trouble. But at
present this is not the case. This is what we need
to achieve."
Erdogan also
said he believed that the United
Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the Organization for
Security and Co-operation in Europe, and the Organization for Co-operation
and Development all need
to undergo reform.
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