Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) declared March 10 its decision to annul negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a stand-by agreement (an IMF arrangement that allows the signatory country to use IMF financing up to a specific amount in a one- to two-year time frame). Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a speech that while Turkey will continue its annual consultation process with IMF to review its economic stability in Article 4 talks (an annual consultation process between IMF and member countries), the Turkish economy can stand on its own feet and thus does not require a loan from the IMF. Turkey's negotiations with the IMF began in May 2008 and have been dragged out since by the AKP government, primarily for political reasons. Turkey does not require this loan out of financial necessity.