ICELAND’S government will make an announcement today on unwinding capital controls introduced during the financial crisis, according to a statement Saturday.

    The statement, sent to media by a public relations agency on behalf of the Icelandic Government, said the country’s prime minister and finance minister would make the announcement at a press conference in Reykjavik.

    Capital controls have been in place in the North Atlantic island of 330,000 people since the 2008 global financial crisis, when its three main banks, Glitnir, Landsbanki and Kaupthing, all collapsed, sending the economy and the Icelandic crown into meltdown.

    With the economy starting to return to normality, Iceland has been planning for some time to remove the capital controls, which have stunted investment, while avoiding a new run on the crown that could hurt the economic recovery.

    The government has said it plans to impose a tax on any debt recovered from the failed banks that investors take out of Iceland, to stem outflows and reduce the risk of the crown plunging again.

    Finance Minister Bjarne Benediktsson had told public broadcaster RUV on Friday the government would present a bill early this week and that he hoped parliament would pass the bill, originally due to be presented last week, by the end of the month.(SD-Agencies)