The UK shamingly used anti-terrorist legislation to freeze the UK assets of Iceland’s Kaupthing Bank. Poland has just agreed to lend this proud but devastated country $198 million (€125 million) over a period of 15 years.
Interest on the loan has been set at 2% until 2015 and at 1.3% after that.
Iceland’s Minister of Finance, Steingrímur J. Sigfússon, says: ‘It is especially pleasing to be able to deal with Poland this way. They are so positive and helpful and emphasized that they want to contribute. This is in many ways a new position for Poles, who have gone through extensive difficulties in the past decades and accepted financial aid. Now they’re at the other end of the table’.
The activation of the loan depends on the resolution of the continuing dispute between Iceland and Britain and the Netherlands over Icesave. Iceland maintains that the British action in prematurely freezing the UK-based assets of Kaupthing under the reputationally damaging use of anti-terrorist legislation caused the Icesave collapse. Iceland’s argument is that this sent a message to account holders that drove the bank into an administraion it would otherwise have been able to avoid.
Norway and Russia are also said to be in discussion with Iceland, exploring potential loans and this early initiative says a lot for Poland.
It can be strongly argued that the British action if fact caused the Icelandic banking collapse and I am glad you are raising this point. An even more damaging fact is that a substantial part of Iceland’s banking industry was British owned. I hope Iceland goes ahead and takes the legal action it is threatening.
Against UK’s national debt (rising at the rate of half a billion pounds – ie £500,000,000 – PER DAY) Iceland’s problems are very moderate indeed and within this decade this proud little independent country (population about that of Edinburgh)in the hostile North Atlantic will have steadied its economic siuation and, like Norway, be providing about the highest standards of civic and social provision and standards of living in the world for its hard working population.
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you sound more like gerry adams as every day goes by -blame the british for every wrong in the world . icelands problems were largely of their own making .
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What I like about kintyre1′s posts is that they never address the actual facts he thinks he is contesting.
At no point did I seek the “blame the british for every wrong in the world” but there is litle doubt that GB’s behaviour accelerated the Icelandic banking collapse. And there is even less doubt that this behaviour was politically disastrous as it may yet provide the opportunity for Russia to gain power in the North Atlantic through ties with Iceland (which presently houses a huge US base at Keflavik).
What Gerry Adams has to do with any of this is puzzling but I wonder if your reference to Irish troubles tells us all rather more about where you’re coming from politically than it tells us about anything else. You’re not keen on big white horses are you?
If you haven’t got anything sensible to say it would be to your benefit to say very little.
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