ANKARA, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Turkey's Finance and Treasury Minister Berat Albayrak announced on Wednesday an economic reforms package focused on the financial sector in a bid to tackle an economic slowdown.
The financial sector is prioritized in the new structural reforms that will apply for this year, Albayrak said at a news conference in Istanbul.
"Strengthening state-run lenders' capital structure will be our first step," he said.
Turkish Treasury Ministry will issue five-billion-U.S.-dollar government debt securities as part of measures to bolster state-run banks' capital structure and make their financial balance.
Albayak said structural reforms in agriculture will target high food prices.
The package also includes tax adjustments, pension reforms, and loans to strategic sectors, exports, value-added and local production, according to the minister.
Turkey's economy has consolidated sustained growth for years but last month it entered its first recession in a decade after a currency meltdown last summer, which resulted in the growing bad debts for banks.
