93 per cent of Icelanders vote 'no' in repayment referendum
93 per cent of Icelanders vote 'no' in referendum on repayment of Anglo-Dutch loans
Sunday, 07, Mar 2010 09:54
By Anisa Kadri and Matthew Champion.
Icelanders have voted to reject overwhelmingly the repayment of Anglo-Dutch loans worth more than $5 billion (£3.3 billion) in the island's first referendum since independence from Denmark.
Ninety-three per cent of votes cast yesterday were against the repayment, with the 'yes' vote getting just two per cent. The remainder of ballots were spoiled.
The outcome was all but certain after Iceland was offered better terms of repayment than those being voted on in the referendum.
Britain and the Netherlands are owed money by Icelanders after they compensated those in their respective countries who lost money by saving with Iceland's online bank Icesave, one of the casualties of the complete collapse of the country's banking system in 2008.
Even Iceland's prime minister Johanna Sigurdardottir, who negotiated the $5 billion deal with England and the Netherlands, was not supporting it.
After the vote she said: "This has no impact on the life of the government. We need to keep going and finish the debate. We have to get an agreement."
The country's finance minister Steingrimur Sigfusson stressed that Iceland will pay off its debts in the future: "It's of utmost importance that we don't over-interpret whatever message comes out of this.
"We want to be perfectly clear that a 'no' vote does not mean we are refusing to pay.
"We will honour our obligations. To maintain anything else is highly dangerous for the economy of this country."
Iceland's people have lost 30 per cent of their disposable income since 2007 and the Icesave debt represents over $15,000 for every one of the island's 320,000 residents.
The Icelandic economy shrank 7.7 per cent in 2009 and has $4.5 billion worth of IMF and other national loans pending on their Icesave repayments.