Turkey could sign an agreement with the International Monetary Fund by the end of the year, but will not answer business lobbies’ calls for a cut in value added tax, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister, said on Thursday.

His government faces increasingly savage criticism from business and investors for denying Turkey faces a serious economic downturn, delaying an IMF deal to secure its external financing needs, and failing to deliver a significant economic stimulus package.