IMF lends Iceland 160-million-dollar to tackle crisis

The Executive Board of International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday approved a 160-million- dollar loan to Iceland to help the Atlantic island recover from financial crisis.

"I am confident that the policies and financing now in place will ease the burden of adjustment and help Iceland's economy stage a recovery in the second half of 2010," said IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

"Looking ahead, the IMF will continue to support Iceland's efforts to address this crisis in any way it can," Strauss-Kahn added.

The IMF said Friday's decision would take lending to Iceland to around 1.2 billion dollars.

Iceland, a victim of the global financial crisis, fell on the edge of bankruptcy in late 2008 in the financial tsunami.

The IMF agreed in November 2008 to lend Iceland up to 2.1 billion dollars in an effort to save the economy from collapse.

But due to months of political wrangling, the latest installment of the loan was delayed.

Source: Xinhua