Prime Minister of Iceland Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir wrote a letter to Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) yesterday, urging him not to stall the economic stabilization program for Iceland because of Icesave.
Prime Minister of Iceland Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir. Photo by Geir Ólafsson.
“I would like to emphasize that the Economic Programme in co-operation with the IMF should continue without interruption, even though a solution to the Icesave matter will be postponed because of the planned national referendum,” Sigurdardóttir wrote; the Prime Minister’s Office sent her letter to the media yesterday.
In the letter the PM underlines that the Icelandic government and the parliament, Althingi, have, for their part concluded all necessary steps for implementing the agreement on Icesave that was negotiated with the governments of the UK and the Netherlands in June and revised in October.
“The review of the Economic Programme is of fundamental importance for the recovery of the Icelandic economy. Therefore it is very important that the review takes place as soon as possible, not the least in order to ensure further investment and recovery of the corporate sector as a part of the general recovery which is underway in Iceland,” Sigurdardóttir concluded.
The next review of the economic program for Iceland is not on the IMF’s program and it seems as if it will be postponed, RÚV reports.
“There are some international obligations for a country and they [Icelanders] have […] to understand that Iceland, as a sovereign country, cannot be immune from what has been done by its financial sector,” Strauss-Kahn said yesterday.
Strauss-Kahn emphasized that a solution on Icesave is not a condition for the IMF providing Iceland with financial assistance.
“But we are an institution led by the international community, which means that we need to go forward, to have the majority of this international community wanting to go forward. If a lot of members think that we need to hold on, we have to hold on,” Strauss-Kahn explained.
“What I hope is that the decision made by the president [to veto the Icesave legislation and send it to a referendum] will be solved rapidly so that we can resume our work with the government [of Iceland],” Strauss-Kahn commented.
“We are not a tax collector for any country,” Strauss-Kahn stressed. “But on the other hand, we need to have the support and you, Icelandic citizens, need to have the support of the international community to be able to go forward.”
Click here to read more about Icesave.
