AN ASSESSMENT OF THE IMF STABILIZATION PROGRAMS FOR DEVELOPMENT COUNTRIES

Vildan SERİN (Fatih University)
Erişah ARICAN (Marmara University)

This paper examines the IMF (Internatıonal Monetary Fund) programs ,especially those since 1990 ,aimed at supporting developing countries such as , Argentina and South Korea studying their effects on long-therm growth and macro-economic stability.Also considered are the effects of the seventeen IMF Stand-by Agreements on Turkey's growth and stability, especially the two Turkey signed up to in the last three years, a period in which Turkey has faced three major economic crises.The effects on Turkey's chronic inflation,the Turkish lira's exchange rate, Turkey's balance of payments and rate of economic growth as well as Turkey's domestic and foreign stock markets, budget deficits and interest rates are all examined

This paper is divided into three parts.The first part investigates and evaluates the goals and results of the IMF programs implemented during times of crisis in Argentina and South Korea.The second parts studies the six IMF Stand-by Agreements made with Turkey that were considered successful .How they affected the two problems, inflation and budget deficits, that hinder Turkey's development and in turn teh amount of foreign portfolio and direct investment that is advanced are discussed.In the third part the likelihood of the success of the current IMF Stand-by Agreement with Turkey isconsidered.In particular ,the negative effects on the distribution os wealth and on employment along with the measures taken to prevent these negative effects are discussed.Finally the paper offers a number of recommendations and assesses the overall effect of IMF programs on Turkey in particular and on developing countries in general.