Turkey's finance minister said Friday the country needs a strong program of support from the International Monetary Fund to handle the global economic downturn, which he said could turn into a worldwide depression.
"We're after a strong (IMF) program, a program that would safeguard medium-term fiscal stability, involve strong structural reform, but also have sufficient funding to address" short-term external financing needs, said Mehmet Simsek told to Dow Jones Newswires on the sidelines of the Group of 20 leading economies meeting just outside London.
"There is a real risk that this recession could turn into a depression," he said.
He said that while the Turkish economy shouldn't deteriorate at the same pace as it has in recent months, a recovery this year or next depends on global action to address the slump.
The finance minister strongly backed the call for a doubling of IMF resources and called on those advanced nations that can to boost their economies.
"Governments that can afford to and have fiscal room, I think should do more," he said.
On the global financial crisis, Simsek said it was vital there was quick action to address the problem of impaired assets.
He said Turkey's banks are "sound and well capitalized" but acknowledged that amid the currency crisis, they are not lending.
He also said that with Turkey's solid welfare support for the poor and unemployed, economic crises of this kind had not provoked social unrest in the past and he believes the same will be true this time.
"Social tensions or unrest is highly unlikely," he said.