Icelanders to vote on Icesave on April 9

REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) â€" The Icelandic government has set April 9 as the date for a public vote on a deal to repay Britain and the Netherlands $5 billion owed after the collapse of Internet bank Icesave.

Icelandic lawmakers had approved the deal at the parliament, the Althingi, last week but President Olafur R. Grimsson declined to ratify the bill, sending it to a referendum instead.

About 38,000 Icelanders â€" around 12 percent of the population â€" had signed a petition calling on Grimsson to authorize a referendum on the deal. A package with more onerous repayment terms was rejected in a national referendum last year.

A poll in the Frettabladid newspaper on Friday reported that 61.3 percent of people say they'll vote in favor of the deal. Another 29.6 percent are undecided.