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
Geology of Iceland frames from around the world suggests that the Iceland hotspot's path differs from older investigations. Many older rocks (dated 75-70 mya) located throughout the area to the west are not only located near hypothesized Iceland hotspot paths, but also attributable to hotspot volcanism, which implies a plausible case for the Iceland hotspot being much older than the earliest rifting of what is now the northernmost Northeast Atlantic. If such a hypothesis is true, then much of the rifting in the North Atlantic was likely caused by thinning and bulging of the crust as opposed to more direct influence by the