Iceland

The Czech government Monday decided to cancel the sale of flag carrier CSA Czech Airlines to a Czech-Icelandic consortium, citing a range of concerns, and will instead continue restructuring the company, Dow Jones reported. The airline's pilots last week agreed to a 30% pay cut in return for the resignation of carrier's management team. The airline's new boss is the head of the Prague airport.

Iceland said on Sunday it had agreed to a new deal to repay Britain and the Netherlands billions of dollars of deposits lost when the island's banks collapsed in 2008, paving the way for new aid from international lenders, Reuters reported. Iceland passed a law in August to repay money lost in high-interest "Icesave" accounts, but Britain and the Netherlands balked at the terms, holding up aid from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other lenders for the island's stricken economy.

Iceland, the U.K. and the Netherlands are closer to agreeing to loan terms for Iceland to repay the massive losses by foreign depositors in the collapsed Icesave Internet bank, said Iceland Finance Minister Steingrímur Sigfússon, The Wall Street Journal reported. "I feel there is a real will now to move ahead," said Mr. Sigfússon, after what he described as good meetings on the issue with his British and Dutch counterparts at the International Monetary Fund's annual meeting in Istanbul. He said the situation in the U.K.

Iceland’s prime minister has hit out against the International Monetary Fund and the British and Dutch governments for holding up recovery efforts a year after the country’s banking sector collapsed, the Financial Times reported. Johanna Sigurdardottir, the prime minister, said that it was “not acceptable” that the IMF had delayed a review for months. This review is needed before Iceland can access more of its $5.1bn (£3.2bn) international rescue package.

Iceland's finance minister said British and Dutch objections to proposals for repaying debts of more than $5 billion were only an initial response and all three countries wanted to resolve the issue quickly, according to media reports on Saturday. Iceland owes the two countries the money after they reimbursed savers who had lost money in Icelandic bank accounts during its financial meltdown last year. After an initial agreement to repay the funds, Iceland's parliament attached amendments stipulating limits on the amount that can be repaid and setting a June 2024 expiry date for the agreement.

Britain and the Netherlands oppose a deadline in Iceland's plans to repay savers who lost money held in the island nation's banks when they collapsed, a government official said on Thursday, Reuters reported. A member of Iceland's budgetary committee, who declined to be named, said the two countries would not accept a clause that meant that the repayment guarantee ran out in June, 2024. Iceland's three main banks and its currency collapsed late last year in the global financial crisis. More than $5 billion was lost in Icelandic deposit accounts.

Icelandic lawmakers began a final debate on Thursday on a politically sensitive bill to authorise paying back Britain and the Netherlands more than $5 billion lost in Icelandic deposit accounts last year, Reuters reported. Parliament is expected to approve the government-sponsored bill, the passage of which is seen as key if Iceland hopes to receive further aid from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other lenders. A majority in the Icelandic parliament's budget committee thrashed out some final amendments this week, paving the way for approval when the vote takes place.

Britain’s Serious Fraud Office is to meet with Icelandic investigators in London next month as Reykjavik seeks international help to discover whether criminal wrongdoing played a role in bringing down Iceland’s banking sector, the Financial Times reported. The talks signal increasing co-operation between the UK and Iceland over the corruption probe, even as tensions flare between the two countries over a disputed deal to repay billions of pounds lost by British savers in Icelandic banks.

The second richest man in Icelandic history has filed for bankruptcy, his spokesman said Friday, The Associated Press reported. Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson, the brewer-turned-billionaire and former owner of the West Ham soccer club, applied for bankruptcy protection at Reykjavik district court, 96 billion Icelandic kronur ($759 million) in debt, Asgeir Fridgeirsson said. It is the largest bankruptcy filing in Icelandic history.

Just months after an epic banking collapse forced Iceland into the arms of the International Monetary Fund, this island nation is locked in a fierce debate over how to pay off its creditors without ceding too much of its vaunted independence, The New York Times reported. The balance Iceland strikes between bowing to the policy demands of the global financial community and satisfying the desires of its increasingly resentful population of 300,000 will be closely watched as I.M.F. programs in beaten-down economies from Latvia and Ukraine to Hungary and Romania enter a crucial phase.