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Empresas y finanzas

Iceland says talks with IMF went well


    By Sakari Suoninen and Omar Valdimarsson

    REYKJAVIK (Reuters) - Crisis-hit Iceland said on Friday it had finished talks with the International Monetary Fund, with a top minister saying discussions concerning a programme had gone well.

    Foreign Affairs Minister Ingibjorg Gisladottir, speaking to reporters after her ministry said it would hold a news conference, declined to say whether aid had formally been requested.

    "It just takes time to finalise the figures and the wording of this," Gisladottir said, adding that IMF officials were working fast.

    "Usually they take several weeks in finalising a document like this one."

    The government is scheduled to hold a news conference at 1415 GMT and an IMF briefing is slated for 1500 GMT.

    Iceland's financial system has all but collapsed and its economy is suffering badly after the country was forced to take over three of its biggest, debt-laden banks this month.

    International trade in the Icelandic crown has ceased and the central bank has reported that some payments to Icelandic firms are being held up.

    "We have concluded the discussions with the IMF, and I think we have done that in a positive way," Gisladottir said.

    WIDE SEARCH

    Iceland, which has widened its search for assistance, began two days of talks on a potential deal with Norway on Thursday.

    Negotiations with Russia on a 4 billion euro loan have so far come to nothing, with further talks planned as the North Atlantic island seeks the funding it needs to start to rebuild its financial system.

    Iceland has already drawn 200 million euros ($256.6 million) on a swap facility with Norway's central bank and an equal amount from the Danish central bank.

    It has signed swap agreements with the central banks of Norway and Denmark for up to 500 million euros each. It has a similar deal with Sweden's central bank but so far this has not been used.

    While banks across the globe have run into trouble due to liquidity drying up in world markets, the size of Iceland's financial firms relative to its economy has meant the government has been unable to step in and bail them out.

    The banks' foreign debts amount to over $60 billion while the country's gross domestic product in 2007 was a mere $14 billion.

    (Reporting by Sakari Suoninen and Omar Valdimarsson via Stockholm newsroom; Editing by Mike Peacock)