I'm confused. How does pouring (my?) money into this inflation pit help?

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/135/world/IMF_approves_8_billion_more_fo:.shtml

IMF approves $8 billion more for Turkey's struggling economy

By Harry Dunphy, Associated Press, 5/15/2001 21:28

WASHINGTON (AP) The International Monetary Fund approved $8 billion in new loans to Turkey to support a new economic recovery plan designed to help ease the country's financial crisis.

Tuesday's approval means Turkey will have access to $19 billion from the IMF and the World Bank under previous or future loan programs. The bank is committed to providing $2 billion in loans to overhaul the banking system and help alleviate poverty.

Turkey's currency has plunged more than 40 percent since its financial crisis struck in February, and about 500,000 people have lost their jobs.

The IMF board acted after reviewing Turkey's recovery program. A bank announcement said the decision meant Turkey could draw up to $3.8 billion immediately. Further payments of $1.5 billion each can be made June 25 and July 25, the announcement said.

The United States strongly backed the latest rescue program for Turkey, a key NATO ally that serves as a base for military operations in Iraq.

''The Turkish government embraced this reform program it is up to them to make it work,'' Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill has said. ''We are supporting them because we believe these reforms will work.''

At a meeting of finance ministers from the seven main industrialized nations in Washington last month, however, the United States refused to provide bilateral aid as part of the package.

O'Neill said the IMF and World Bank are the proper vehicles for emergency lending, providing Turkey can satisfy their demands for reform.

Turkey's parliament helped smooth the path to final confirmation of the latest loan package, first pledged by the IMF last month, by approving laws over the weekend to change banking practices and to privatize Turk Telecom, the telephone monopoly.

The Turkish Economy Minister Kemal Dervis told the Financial Times in London that he would resign if the government were to fail to implement reforms pledged to international lenders.

In Turkey, a television station said Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit has assured lenders his three-party coalition stands firmly behind its economic pledges.

-- Anonymous, May 16, 2001