Iceland and the International Monetary Fund set at positive 2-3 percent by 2010. Additionally Iceland determined that it would not support the losses of its pension funds and social service programmes in order not to take up additional obligations. One of the primary objectives of the Icelandic government in seeking an IMF programme was to stabilize the ISK and to set a path for its gradual appreciation. To stabilize short term pressures on the ISK the Central Bank of Iceland raised interest rates to 18% and prepared to back the krona with its foreign reserves, specifically for which Iceland asked for an IMF programme . The
Iceland–Russia relations study was carried out of the seabed in waters surrounding the island. Former President of Iceland Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson went to Russia from April 18, 2002 to April 24, 2002. Grimsson visited Saint-Petersburg, Moscow, Novgorod and Salekhard. In 2008 Prime Minister Geir Haarde has sent a delegation to Russia to negotiate a £3bn (€4bn) capital injection into the country's finances, after the country's traditional Western allies refused to help the collapsing banking system. The loan was later renegotiated to $500 million after Iceland managed to secure loans from Scandinavian countries and the International Monetary Fund, but finally Russia refused to