Iceland preparing to take IMF loan in echo of 1976 Britain

Source: Telegraph

The country’s industry minister yesterday became the first government figure to acknowledge that an emergency loan from the Washington-based Fund was now the country’s only hope.

Oessur Skarphedinsson said: “I have reached the conclusion that if we call for help from the IMF, other central banks, other countries will want to take part in the aid process.”

The fund sent emissaries to the troubled country two weeks ago as a number of its banks neared collapse and foreign investors started pulling funds out of the economy at an alarming rate.

The IMF experts have spent recent days in the finance ministry in Reykjavik examining the country’s books and setting out the loan options to the country.

Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/businesslatestnews/3185203/Iceland-preparing-to-take-IMF-loan-in-echo-of-1976-Britain.html

I thought they were looking East for their funds. . . Something changed?

In the last financial crisis period they were pursuing the exact OPPOSITE policies to what you would want to do in a financial and economic downturn. Hope the IMF learned its lesson after the disastrous programs of the late '90s undermined its credibility.