The Economy of Iceland 2 0 0 E 8 C O N O M Y O F I C E L A N D 2 0 1 0 Contents 5 Introduction 7 1 Recent economic and financial developments Box: The IMF programme 11 13 2 Country and people 17 3 Structure of the economy Boxes: Sectoral limitations on foreign direct investment 19 The ITQ system 21 29 4 The financial system Boxes: The financial crisis in Iceland 32 Resolution committees and winding-up boards 34 Capital controls 38 The offshore foreign exchange market 40 43 5 Public sector Boxes: The fiscal impact of the financial crisis 47 Icesave 56 59 6 Monetary and financial stability policies 65 7 Foreign debt position 71 8 Government, corporate, and household balance sheets 77 9 Appendix Published by: The Central Bank of Iceland, Kalkofnsvegur 1, 150 Reykjavík, Iceland Tel: (+354) 569 9600, fax: (+354) 569 9605 E-mail:
[email protected] Website: www.sedlabanki.is Editorial Board and staff: Rannveig Sigurdardóttir, chairman Gerdur Ísberg Jónas Thórdarson Ragnheidur Jónsdóttir Regína Bjarnadóttir Helga Gudmundsdóttir 6 October 2010 Printing: Ísafoldarprentsmiðja Economy of Iceland is also published on the Central Bank of Iceland website. ISSN 1024-6680 Material may be reproduced from Economy of Iceland, but an acknowledgement of source is kindly requested. In Economy of Iceland, monetary figures are generally presented in euros; however, in certain instances, amounts are expressed in US dol- lars or Special Drawing Rights (SDR). The amount in Icelandic krónur is included in parentheses, as most figures are originally in krónur. Stocks at the end of the period are calculated using the period-end exchange rate, whereas flows are calculated using the average exchange rate for the period.