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New Iceland government promises to fight crisis
Sun Feb 1, 2009 3:43pm EST
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By Patrick Lannin and Omar R Valdirmarsson
REYKJAVIK (Reuters) - Iceland named a new interim center-left government on Sunday which promised to rebuild its shattered economy while cushioning its people from the worst of the crisis.
Johanna Sigurdardottir of the Social Democratic Alliance will become Iceland's new prime minister after center-right Geir Haarde stepped down last week after months of protests, the first leader to become a casualty of the global economic crisis.
It asked a parliamentary committee to consider if Iceland should join the European Union but said the coalition parties would not allow the fiercely independent island nation to join the EU without a referendum.
"This government's primary objective will be responsible fiscal control," said Sigurdardottir, Iceland's first female prime minister and the world's first openly gay leader.
"First and foremost, we will focus on urgent matters regarding the businesses and homes of this country," Sigurdardottir, 66, told a news conference.
The credit crunch has hit Iceland hard.
Its banks buckled under a weight of overseas debt, its currency collapsed and the country was forced to take a $10 billion International Monetary Fund-led rescue package, causing widespread anger.
The new coalition of the Social Democratic Alliance and the Left-Green Party said it would stick to the program agreed with the IMF and concentrate on finding ways to rapidly cut interest rates which currently stand at 18 percent.
With Left-Green leader Steingrimur Sigfusson as the new finance minister, the government said in a statement it would also set up a monetary policy commission to take decisions on interest rates, bank reserves and cash requirements.
It also pledged to take quick action to remove central bank bosses, after the bank and its Governor David Oddsson, a former long-ruling prime minister for Haarde's Independence Party, became a focus of anger for protesters.
UNDER PRESSURE
The nation's banks would come under pressure from the coalition to restart lending, while homeowners left struggling with foreign currency loans made more expensive by the collapse of the Icelandic currency would be given support.
In a bid to boost employment and business, the coalition said it would also plan a series of public works.
The new government will only be in office until an early election due on April 25, a major demand of protesters.
A minority government, it will have the support of the centrist Progressive Party in the 63-seat parliament. Continued...
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