In a report by Neil Kloptenstein at the US Embassy in Iceland from June 4, 2009 leaked by Wikileaks, Minister of Finance Steingrímur J. Sigfússon proved to be surprisingly responsible. The day before, Sigfússon had discussed some of Iceland’s key issues with Klopfenstein.
Minister of Finance Steingrímur J. Sigfússon.
Although many people were skeptical of Sigfússon regarding the loan from the International Monetary Fund to begin with, the minister had acknowledged the bailout-package’s significance on various occasions, the report says according to Fréttabladid.
Sigfússon has resisted most temptations to place the complete blame of the debt load caused by the ongoing crisis on capitalism extremism, Klopfenstein added.
However, the employees of the US Embassy cast doubt on Sigfússon’s interpretation of the progress of the Icesave negotiations with the UK and the Netherlands.
The British ambassador was much more pessimistic in his evaluation of the negotiations, the report says, however adding that both of them had “childish” plans regarding the repayment of the Icesave loans.
Click here to read more about Wikileaks and here to read more about Icesave.
