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
Gylfi Zoega 1989 and a B.A. degree in Economics and Business Administration from the University of Iceland in Reykjavík in 1987. Zoega specialises in macroeconomics and labour economics and has written numerous articles on the subject, including several co-authored with Nobel laureate Edmund Phelps. Currently, a professor in Economics at Birkbeck College in London, Zoega is a member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Iceland. Zoega has also taught at the University of Iceland and Columbia University. Zoega has offered an assessment of the monetary policy during the upswing and reforms going forward. In addition to numerous basic