Turkey’s government outlined a multi-billion dollar public spending programme at the weekend, easing fiscal policy ahead of a new, probably much less stringent, agreement with the International Monetary Fund.

The finance ministry said it was revising some key budget targets between 2008 and 2012 to release about 17bn new Turkish lira (YTL) ($13.4bn, €8.7bn, £6.8bn) for investment in infrastructure. The announcement is a sign that the government, chafing under strict IMF oversight and beset by a political crisis, intends to pursue an ambitious public spending programme, much of it concentrated in Turkey’s unsettled south-eastern region.