The delegation arrived in Moscow late Monday for a series of meetings to agree terms for a loan that would allow Iceland's government to shore up its shaky national currency, the krona, which has lost about a quarter of its value against the euro since the start of the year.
Iceland's Central Bank said October 7 that Russia had agreed to grant it a 4 billion-euro ($5.4 billion) loan, although Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said Russia treated Iceland's loan request favorably but would make a loan decision after negotiations.
Iceland's Central Bank said the maturity of the loan would be three to four years on terms ranging from 30 to 50 basis points over LIBOR.
The bank said the loan would significantly bolster Iceland's foreign exchange reserves, strengthening the stability of the exchange rate of the krona in the face of the unfolding global financial crisis, which has hit the small Nordic country particularly hard.
