Turkey: World Bank Launches New Strategy of Assistance

WASHINGTON, November 6, 2003—The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors today discussed a new Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) for Turkey. The CAS is a document that details the World Bank Group’s work plan to assist client countries in achieving their development goals. It describes all of the World Bank Group’s planned activities in the country—lending, analytical work and technical assistance. The new CAS for Turkey for the next three years envisages a World Bank lending program of up to US$ 4.5 billion.  In addition, the Turkish private sector may further benefit from loans, investments and advisory services provided by IFC, the World Bank Group’s private sector financing arm, and from guarantees against non-commercial risks, provided by MIGA, another member of the World Bank Group. 

The objective of the World Bank Group strategy is to help Turkey implement fundamental reforms to reduce economic vulnerability and achieve high and stable growth. The World Bank Group will also assist the authorities in addressing some long neglected social and environmental problems as the country prepares for EU membership. 

“We will continue to support Turkey’s economic reform program, focusing on the public sector and the improvement of the business climate, to help create the conditions for sustained, high economic growth and to help prepare it for integration into the EU. Our planned assistance program also attaches great importance to human development. We are ready to assist the authorities in modernizing Turkey’s education, health and social protection systems, as well as developing the knowledge economy. We remain committed to a strong partnership with Turkey in the years to come,” says Andrew N. Vorkink, World Bank Country Director for Turkey. 

The CAS is organized around four central themes:

• Sound macroeconomics and governance. Top priority will be given to completion of the public sector reform. The new CAS will support the   Government’s efforts to reform the social security system, further improve the efficiency of public expenditure management, and decentralize service delivery and implement municipal reform. Strengthening the legal and judicial system may also benefit from assistance. 

• Equitable human and social development. Although the economy has been growing in 2002 and this year, many citizens continue to lack access to basic health and education services.   The new CAS will continue to support the reform of the education sector at the secondary and post secondary level, assist the authorities in transforming the health sector, and focus on social protection.

• Attractive business climate and knowledge.      An  important factor to determine future growth prospects for Turkey will be the capacity of transforming the economy into an export-oriented, technology-intensive production structure. In this framework, the new CAS will support the continuation of financial sector reforms, provide funding to help enterprises increase exports, and strengthen the small and medium size enterprise sector. It will also assist the authorities in increasing Turkey’s competitiveness by developing the knowledge economy, and through investments in infrastructure and rural activities.

• Strong environmental management and disaster prevention. Given Turkey’s high seismic risks and history of flooding, improving emergency preparedness and seismic risk mitigation are critical. The new CAS will support the Government’s efforts in this area, as well as in environmental and natural resource management that is a high priority for Turkey.

The previous CAS for Turkey covered the 2001-2003 period, and the projects that have been implemented during that period have already yielded positive results on the ground. These include, among others, tangible improvements in basic education, including a substantial increase in girls’ school enrollment; physical and psychological rehabilitation following the 1999 earthquakes; strengthened stability of the banking system; improvements in public sector management; modernization of agriculture policies; more effective natural resource management; and improved targeting of social welfare for the poorest.

The CAS has been prepared in partnership with the Turkish authorities. The choice of priority areas of assistance also reflects the outcome of consultations with civil society and other stakeholders. During the implementation of the CAS, there will be also continued strong collaboration with the World Bank Group’s development partners, including the IMF, the EU, members of the UN system, as well as bilateral donors.

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