Nordic Iceland loan likely delayed -Finland

HELSINKI Jan 5 (Reuters) - Icelandic president's decision to send the Icesave bill to referendum will likely delay Nordic countries 1.8 billion euro ($2.6 billion) loan package to the hard-hit economy, a senior Finnish official said on Tuesday.

Earlier on Tuesday Iceland's president said he would not sign into law a bill to repay more than $5 billion lost by savers in Britain and the Netherlands.

The law is one of the conditions for the Nordic countries joint loan to the struggling economy.

"Probably the process will be delayed, as we will ask the Britons and the Dutch what they think about the situation. In any case, this will require a new assessment," Ilkka Kajaste, a senior official at Finland's Finance Ministry, told Reuters. (Reporting by Eva Lamppu; editing by Chris Pizzey)