Word: britishisms
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...Although Grimsson insists that Iceland will repay the debt - which amounts to about one-third of Iceland's annual output, or $17,400 per Icelander - he says the British and Dutch governments are trying to bully the country into accepting an extortionate interest rate of 5.55% over 15 years. He called for a referendum, set for Feb. 20, on whether the country should accept the repayment plan...
...Britain and the Netherlands reacted angrily to Grimsson's move, warning that Iceland's economic recovery and bid to join the E.U. would be doomed if it failed to meet its obligations. British Financial Services Minister Paul Myners even said the country risks becoming a pariah state. Both Britain and Holland hinted that they may block a $10 billion International Monetary Fund rescue package for the country, and Iceland's Scandinavian neighbors shelved a $2.6 billion loan they had promised Reykjavik. On top of all that, Fitch Ratings lowered Iceland's credit grade to junk status last week...
...many Icelanders say they are being unfairly persecuted. They are still smarting from Britain's decision to use antiterrorism laws in 2008 to freeze Iceland's assets and force the country to agree to reimburse the British savers. "The British government used gunboat diplomacy, putting us in the same category as al-Qaeda and the Taliban," says Magnus Arni Skulason, a founding member of InDefence, a grass-roots campaign that helped secure 62,000 names - over a quarter of Iceland's 320,000 people - on a petition calling for the referendum. Skulason says Iceland has become the whipping...
...small country?" Latvian Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins asked on Jan. 7. "It is difficult to imagine that similar comments would be heard if, for example, such a step had been taken by the French President." Iceland has also garnered the support of the Jubilee Debt Campaign, a British antipoverty organization. "Iceland's President was correct to assert that states in debt have rights that trump the rights of creditors to bleed their economies dry," says Nick Dearden, the group's director...
...Other analysts say that Iceland's future may not be as imperiled as the British and Dutch suggest. "When you have a debtor who cannot repay immediately, what do you do? Do you beat Iceland to pieces? If you do, the chances of getting the money back goes down the drain," says Daniel Gros, director of the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels and a board member of the Central Bank of Iceland. "The U.K. and Netherlands may feel that it would be easier to be repaid if Iceland is in the E.U." (Read "Iceland's Urgent...