The time has come for decision-makers to take advantage of the calmer economic atmosphere and make necessary but tough decisions, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan said Feb. 16 in a G-20 meeting in Moscow reports Hurriyet Daily News.
Babacan said the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank and the European Central Bank had convinced markets that they would not permit their states to become bankrupt. “They tried to consolidate their banks, but they need to put the structural reforms into action,” said Babacan at a ministers’ meeting in the Russian capital, while warning countries not to be misled by the relatively calm atmosphere. 
“If basic problems do not get solved, the markets may begin having concerns, and this may happen very quickly,” he said, adding that the present tranquility was something to take advantage of in terms of acting immediately. 
“The medium-term policies that will be carried out by states will give more positive results than uncertainty,” he said, adding that most developed countries were experiencing political uncertainty that damaged confidence in the present. 
He also said consumers avoided making expenditures while companies avoided making investments when they had doubts about the future.