However, Finance Minister Kemal Unakitan said in an interview with the Reuters news agency that the move should not undermine the state’s program of fiscal discipline and that the government would unveil a new medium term economic plan this coming weekend.
“The primary surplus is connected to the debt structure. Turkey’s debt has fallen ... and it will be lowered further within the framework of a new plan.
Reducing the primary surplus should not mean a deterioration in fiscal discipline,” Unakitan said.
The minister did not say what the new primary surplus target would be.
The target set by the government for 2008 for the primary surplus, which excludes repayments of interest on state debts, was 5.5 percent of gross domestic product.
