Minister of Social Affairs Árni Páll Árnason wrote an article published in Fréttabladid today stating that the Central Bank of Iceland’s and Financial Supervisory Authority’s guidelines on the interest rate of foreign currency indexed loans were ill-judged and untimely.
The guidelines were issued after the Supreme Court of Iceland ruled that the loans were illegal, leaving many members of the public outraged. Demonstrations have taken place outside the Central Bank of Iceland this week.
Árnason recommends that people show patience while waiting for further court rulings on the loans, saying that untimely intervention by the state can cause debt burdens to be relocated from financial companies to the state. “That cannot happen,” he writes.
The minister’s message to financial companies is to shoulder their responsibilities and turn their backs on the work methods of the past.
Click here to read the guidelines issued by the Central Bank and the Financial Supervisory Authority on June 30 and here to read more about the protests.
