IMF approves $2.1bn Iceland loan

Thursday, November 20, 2008

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a $2.1bn (£1.4bn) loan for Iceland, after the country's banking system collapsed in October.

The two-year loan was designed to help the country cope with what the IMF described as "a banking crisis of extraordinary proportions".

The loan aimed to help the country "to restore confidence and stabilise the economy", the IMF said in a statement.

Iceland is the first Western European nation to get an IMF loan since 1976.

The two-year loan, which is subject to quarterly review, allows the country to withdraw about$827m now, and the rest in eight installments of some $155m.

Iceland's government had expressed frustration last week at delays in the loan's approval.

Source

News.bbc.co.uk