Resounding 'no' vote expected in Icelandic repayment referendum
Icelandic voters expected to vote against repaying Anglo-Dutch loans worth more than $5 billion
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By Darren Estwick. |  |
Saturday, 06, Mar 2010 10:44
By Anisa Kadri.
Icelandic voters are expected to vote against repaying Anglo-Dutch loans worth more than $5 billion (£3.3 billion) in a referendum being held in the country today.
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.
But the two countries have made the terms of the repayment easier since the deal was brokered, meaning there is little incentive for Iceland to vote for it.
Even Iceland's prime minister Johanna Sigurdardottir, who negotiated the $5 billion deal with England and the Netherlands, is not supporting it.
She said: "The bill is literally an 'orphaned' law since there is nobody fighting for it. It is quite clear it will be rejected."
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 totals to over $15,000 for every one of Iceland's 320,000 residents.
According to the most recent poll, three quarters of Icelanders will reject the deal to pay back Britain and the Netherlands, which was passed by parliament in December last year.