Icelandic government releases debt relief programme

Icelandic government on Monday released its debt relief program to reinforce the premises for further growth and lighten households' debt.
Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson and Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Bjarni Benediktsson, together with the project management team, announced the housing mortgage principal reduction action, which will reduce the principal by some 1.2 billion dollars or as much as 20 percent over the next three years.
According to a statement published in the website of the Prime Minister's office, persons, who were younger than 40 years of age when the economic collapse occurred in 2008, with below-average income and have debts of 121,500 to 243,000 U.S. dollars will benefit from this program. Equity position of 56,000 households will be directly improved.
The statement said loans will be divided into two parts, the original mortgage portion and the adjustment portion. The debtors now only need to pay the original mortgage portion.