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Iceland: Economic and Political Outline
Economic Indicators | Foreign Trade in Figures | Sources of General Economic Information | Political Outline
After a period of continuous growth between the second half of the 1990s and 2007, Iceland was badly hit by the global international crisis since October 2008. The rapid expansion of the Icelandic financial system left Iceland completely vulnerable to affront the international financial shocks, up to the point of practically inducing the country into a situation of "national bankruptcy". On top of this, during the last recent years, Iceland's economy has been stimulated by a real estate boom, which contributed to destabilizing the economic situation even more.
Confronted to the total collapse of its financial system, the former government of Geeir Haarde had to nationalize the country's main banks. However, inflation continues to climb (reaching almost 18.6% today). In November 2008, the IMF granted a loan of USD 2 billion in order to stabilize the Icelandic krona's exchange rate, which has suffered considerably due to the crisis, and to re-establish confidence in the economy. In order to benefit from European aid and from the protection that the Euro currency provides, Iceland requested in July 2009 a candidature for its accession to the European Union. However, this project of becoming a member of the EU has not obtained the support of the population and the issue will have to pass through a popular referendum. Unemployment has been decreasing and is now at 7.6%. In 2011 the growth rate was 2.6% (after a decline of 4% in the previous year). The economic outlook for 2012 remains very uncertain, all the more so because the country must settle its dispute with the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, concering the bankrupcy of the Icelanding bank IceSave.
| Main Indicators | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 (e) | 2013 (e) |
| GDP (billions USD) | 12.09 | 12.59 | 14.09 | 14.73 | 15.37 |
| GDP (Constant Prices, Annual % Change) | -6.9 | -3.5e | 2.5 | 2.5 | 3.1 |
| GDP per Capita (USD) | 37,853 | 39,026e | 43,226 | 44,723 | 46,185 |
| General Government Balance (in % of GDP) | -7.1 | -2.4 | -2.9 | -1.9 | -1.0 |
| General Government Gross Debt (in % of GDP) | 88.2 | 92.4 | 101.2 | 96.8 | 95.0 |
| Inflation Rate (%) | 12.0 | 5.4e | 4.2 | 4.5 | 2.5 |
| Unemployment Rate (% of the Labor Force) | 8.0 | 8.1 | 7.1 | 6.0 | 4.7 |
| Current Account (billions USD) | -1.42 | -1.29e | 0.27 | 0.47 | -0.07 |
| Current Account (in % of GDP) | -11.7 | -10.2 | 1.9e | -0.4 | - |
Source: IMF - World Economic Outlook Database ; World Bank , Last Available Data
Note: (e) Estimated Data
The agricultural sector contributes 7% to the GDP, the industrial sector to more than 25% and services to more than 68%.
The Icelandic economy relies partly in its renewable natural resources and its related industries: deep sea fishing, hydraulic and geothermal power and pastures.
Fishing accounts for almost 6% of GDP (11% with the processing sector and over 18% when counting its indirect contribution).
It has been several years that its economy has also grown thanks to the services sector. As a fact, Iceland has become the rear-base of several companies specialized in computers and software. There are also many calling centers in the Icelandic territory.
| Breakdown of Economic Activity By Sector | Agriculture | Industry | Services |
| Employment By Sector (in % of Total Employment) | 4.5 | 19.0 | 74.3 |
| Value Added (in % of GDP) | 6.3 | 27.2 | 66.5 |
| Value Added (Annual % Change) | -0.1 | 1.2 | 1.5 |
Source: World Bank - Last Available Data.
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| Monetary Indicators | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 |
| Iceland Krona (ISK) - Average Annual Exchange Rate For 1 USD | 70.18 | 64.06 | 87.95 | 123.64 | 122.24 |
Source: World Bank - Last Available Data.
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Distribution of Economic freedom in the world
Source: 2009 Index of Economic freedom, Heritage Foundation
Note: The Economic freedom index measure ten components of economic freedom, grouped into four broad categories or pillars of economic freedom: Rule of Law (property rights, freedom from corruption); Limited Government (fiscal freedom, government spending); Regulatory Efficiency (business freedom, labor freedom, monetary freedom); and Open Markets (trade freedom, investment freedom, financial freedom). Each of the freedoms within these four broad categories is individually scored on a scale of 0 to 100. A country’s overall economic freedom score is a simple average of its scores on the 10 individual freedoms.
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Iceland has always been open to international trade. Almost half of the exports are fishing products. Iceland also exports aluminum and ferrosilicon (around 40% of its total exports), as well as dairy products. Tourism has been on the rise since 2011, stimulated by the collapse of the national currency. Certain traditional sectors, such as fishing, are doing well, which stimulates the dynamism of the exports.
Iceland's main customers are the United Kingdom (19% of exports), the USA (17.5%), as well as Germany and France (6% respectively).
Its main suppliers are the UK (27% of imports), the USA (20%) and Germany (10%).
| Foreign Trade Indicators | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 |
| Imports of Goods (million USD) | 6,738 | 6,205 | 3,604 | 3,931 | 4,833 |
| Exports of Goods (million USD) | 4,783 | 5,382 | 4,057 | 4,601 | 5,337 |
| Imports of Services (million USD) | 2,938 | 2,501 | 1,912 | 2,160 | 2,532 |
| Exports of Services (million USD) | 2,261 | 2,175 | 2,303 | 2,437 | 2,840 |
| Imports of Goods and Services (Annual % Change) | -0.7 | -18.2 | -24.1 | - | - |
| Exports of Goods and Services (Annual % Change) | 18.1 | - | - | - | - |
| Imports of Goods and Services (in % of GDP) | 45.3 | 47.2 | 44.4 | - | - |
| Exports of Goods and Services (in % of GDP) | 34.6 | 44.4 | 53.2 | - | - |
| Trade Balance (million USD) | -1,385 | -300 | 733 | 983 | - |
| Trade Balance (Including Service) (million USD) | -2,076 | -645 | 1,042 | 1,346 | - |
| Foreign Trade (in % of GDP) | 80.0 | 91.5 | 97.5 | - | - |
Source: WTO - World Trade Organization ; World Bank , Last Available Data
| Main Customers (% of Exports) |
2010 |
| Netherlands | 34.0% |
| Germany | 14.0% |
| United Kingdom | 10.1% |
| Spain | 4.7% |
| United States | 4.6% |
| See More Countries | 32.6% |
| Main Suppliers (% of Imports) |
2010 |
| Norway | 9.0% |
| Brazil | 8.7% |
| Netherlands | 8.5% |
| United States | 8.2% |
| Germany | 7.5% |
| See More Countries | 58.1% |
Source: Comtrade, Last Available Data
Source: Comtrade, Last Available Data
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The Prime Minister is the head of the government and holds the executive powers which include implementation of the law in the country and running the day-to-day affairs. The Prime Minister also appoints the Cabinet.
- IP (Independence Party) – centre-right conservative political party, opposes joining the EU;
- PP (Progressive Party) - an agrarian and liberal political party;
- Alliance – a social-democratic party, based on the alliance of the People's Alliance (PA), Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Women's List;
- LGM (Left Green Movement) – advocates traditional socialist values, feminism and environmentalism;
- LP (Liberal Party) – a liberal party, opposes joining the EU and the war in Iraq.
Source: Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2011, Reporters Without Borders
Note: The world rankings, published annually, measures the violations of press freedom worldwide. It reflects the degree of freedom enjoyed by journalists, the media and digital citizens of each country and the means used by states to respect and uphold this freedom. Finally, a note and a position is assigned to each country. To compile this index, Reporters Without Borders (RWB) prepared a questionnaire sent to partner organizations,150 RWB correspondents, journalists, researchers, jurists and activists of human rights, including the main criteria - 44 in total - to assess the situation of press freedom in a given country. It includes every kind of direct attacks against journalists and digital citizens (murders, imprisonment, assault, threats, etc.) or against the media (censorship, confiscation, searches and harassment etc.).
Map of freedom 2010
Source: Freedom House
Note: The Indicator of Political Freedom provides an annual evaluation of the state of freedom in a country as experienced by individuals. The survey measures freedom according to two broad categories: political rights and civil liberties. The ratings process is based on a checklist of 10 political rights questions (on Electoral Process, Political Pluralism and Participation, Functioning of Government) and 15 civil liberties questions (on Freedom of Expression, Belief, Associational and Organizational Rights, Rule of Law, Personal Autonomy and Individual Rights). Scores are awarded to each of these questions on a scale of 0 to 4, where a score of 0 represents the smallest degree and 4 the greatest degree of rights or liberties present. The total score awarded to the political rights and civil liberties checklist determines the political rights and civil liberties rating. Each rating of 1 through 7, with 1 representing the highest and 7 the lowest level of freedom, corresponds to a range of total scores.
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Last Updates: May 2012