STOCKHOLM, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Prime Minister of Iceland Johanna Sigurdardottir on Thursday called on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to continue its economic program in the country, according to reports reaching here from Reykjavik.

    "I would like to emphasize that the economic program in co-operation with the IMF should continue without interruption, even though a solution to the Icesave matter will be postponed because of the planned national referendum," Sigurdardottir said in the letter to Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the Managing Director of IMF.

    She also emphasized that the Icelandic government and the Parliament Althingi had concluded all necessary steps for implementing the agreement on Icesave that was negotiated with the Governments of the United Kingdom and the Netherlands in June and revised in October.

    "The review of the Economic Program is of fundamental importance for the recovery of the Icelandic economy," said Sigurdardottir in the letter, adding that therefore it is very important that the review takes place as soon as possible, not the least in order to ensure further investment and recovery of the corporate sector as a part of the general recovery which is underway in Iceland.

    On Oct. 24 last year, IMF announced an initial agreement with Iceland on a 2.1 billion dollar two-year loan to support an economic recovery program to help the island restore confidence inits banking system and stabilize its currency.