Icelanders vote on deal to repay $5.3 billion

[March 06, 2010]  REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) -- Icelanders are voting in a nationwide referendum on approving the use of taxpayers' money to repay international debts.

Opinion polls suggest that a majority of Icelanders will vote "no" on Saturday to the $5.3 billion deal to compensate Britain and the Netherlands for deposits lost in a collapsed Icelandic bank.

That is expected to complicate Iceland's effort to recover from a deep recession and a banking collapse.

The issue revolves around the payment of $3.5 billion to Britain and $1.8 billion to the Netherlands as compensation for funds that those governments paid out to around 340,000 of their nationals who had savings in the collapsed Internet bank Icesave.

[Associated Press]

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.