Iceland’s Ministry of Finance has today publicly released its treasury accounts for 2009, with a statement saying the figures are better than had been predicted.
The government’s accounts of it income and outgoings show that the authorities took more and spent less than had been anticipated during the difficult year 2009. The statement from the Ministry in its entirety can be read below:
The Treasury has now concluded preparation of its financial statements for 2009. The outcome shows that the difficult but necessary fiscal restraint actions applied last year are producing results. Objectives were set for fiscal policy and enforced through strict austerity measures, cut-backs in expenditure, restructuring, efficiency actions and increasing revenue generation for the Treasury. The Treasury finances comply with the government’s fiscal objectives and there are clear signs that gradual improvement is being achieved with a more positive performance than forecast, despite the sizeable deficit.
Treasury balance
The revenue statement shows a deficit of ISK 139 billion (bn), equivalent to 32% of revenue for the year and 9.3% of GDP. As the 2009 budget anticipated a current balance of ISK 173bn, the actual outcome was ISK 34bn above forecast. The explanation lies primarily in revenues of ISK 22bn in excess of estimates while expenditure was ISK 12bn below forecast.
Treasury revenue
Revenue in 2009 was almost ISK 440bn, compared to a 2009 budget forecast for revenue of just over ISK 417bn. Treasury revenue therefore considerably exceeded the forecast, as practically all revenue items exceeded budget estimates.
Treasury expenditure
Actual Treasury expenditure was ISK 579bn, compared to ISK 688bn in 2008. As budget authorisations totalled ISK 590bn, actual expenditure was almost ISK 12bn below budget.
The Treasury’s largest expenditure posts in 2009 were for healthcare, social security and welfare, and education. These items comprised over 51% of total expenditure. Expenditure on social security and welfare amounted to ISK 135bn or 23% of Treasury expenditure. Healthcare spending was ISK 117bn, or 20% of Treasury expenditure, and exceeded budget allocations for the year by almost ISK 3bn. Expenditure on education amounted to ISK 46bn or 8% of total Treasury expenditure.
Spending on economic and industrial affairs amounted to ISK 69bn, or 12% of total Treasury expenditure, with expenditure of ISK 26bn for road transport infrastructure the major item here. Irregular expenditure items amounted to ISK 36bn or 6% of total Treasury expenditure. Other state expenditures comprised 16% of total Treasury expenditure. These include major expenditures for cultural affairs, sports, religious affairs and law enforcement and security.
The Treasury’s financing cost was ISK 84bn in 2009 or some 14.5% of its total expenditure, which is a substantial increase over the previous year but over ISK 5bn lower than the budget estimate.
Financing cost
Financing needs proved to be considerably lower than estimated, or 11% of GDP rather than the forecast 25%. The discrepancy results in part from an agreement by the Treasury with the Central Bank of Iceland to purchase collateralised loans and security claims totalling some ISK 134bn, together with lower costs of refinancing the banks. The Treasury position improved by ISK 42bn in 2009, with Treasury cash and cash equivalents of ISK 227bn at year-end 2009.
2009 Treasury Financial Statements
The 2009 financial statements are presented in two parts. The first consists of consolidated financial statements for Type A government operations. The second consists of the accounts of individual Type A institutions, Type B government corporations, Type C credit institutions, Type D financial undertakings, and Type E limited companies or partnerships in which the state holds at least a 50% stake. The 2009 Treasury financial statements will be accessible on the website of the Financial Management Agency, http://www.fjs.is, where further information is available.
>This is an English Language website, so links in Icelandic are pointless.
The interview with Hannan is in English.
But I do not see any discussion of issues he raises just ad hominem.
So we should ignore that Hannan is intellectually dishonest when it come to the EU? Ad hominem is not always a “bad thing”.
Anyway, perhaps you missed Niels’ post:
“Before 2008 he portrayed Iceland as a shining example of economic success to the rest of the world and he apparently did the same for Georgia (the former soviet republic, not the US state).
Quite ridiculous, we all know what happened to Iceland and I have been to Georgia and the place is dead-poor with about 80% of the population below the poverty line.”
But, looking at the article:
First para. General filler about the evil EU.
Second para. Surprise! Icelanders don’t want to join the EU. We all know this, and a great deal of the reason for this is because, when he says “I was impressed by the extent to which voters had already acquainted themselves with the facts”, Hannan was entirely wrong. The dishonest anti-EU spin in Iceland has been massive. That’s not to say that the EU is good, that Iceland should join or that Hannan is necessarily entirely wrong when he says “Higher costs, reduced competitiveness, diminished democracy, truncated trade, sterile seas – oh, and Brussels jobs for a fortunate few”.
Third para. More filler with an anti-EU theme.
Another MEP, Nigel Farage , is a lot more entertaining in his europhobism. You will enjoy this one Fisy :-)
http://www.dumpert.nl/mediabase/1030121/8fafb037/nigel_farage_sloopt_belgie.html
“But I do not see any discussion of issues he raises just ad hominem.”
This is an English Language website, so links in Icelandic are pointless.
Hannan is a politicaian of course.
But I do not see any discussion of issues he raises just ad hominem.
Peter,
The link to his wiki works if you skip the 1 at the end.
I find this man not very convincing when it comes to economics.
Before 2008 he portrayed Iceland as a shining example of economic success to the rest of the world and he apparently did the same for Georgia (the former soviet republic, not the US state).
Quite ridiculous, we all know what happened to Iceland and I have been to Georgia and the place is dead-poor with about 80% of the population below the poverty line.
Mr. Hannan undoubtedly is an entertaining character but in economic matters I do not consider him as an authority.
Yes, a Europe hating politician doesn’t want iceland to joing the EU, what a surprise.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Hannan1
Daniel Hannan ( UK MEP ) talks about EU member ship and Iceland :
http://www.mbl.is/mm/frettir/sjonvarp/?fl=0;media_id=50289;play=1&ref=fpsjonvarp
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danielhannan/100047606/i-am-in-iceland-among-the-most-independent-people-on-earth/
[…] Icelandic government releases 2009 financial results | IceNews … […]
“Thanks to the withdrawal of the EU application in 2010…”
Unfortunately I don’t think thats gona hapen,the EU in complicity with “super Johanna” are wraping up Icelands accession to EU without people even notecing, formal talks start next week(not many people knew) insted of in october, and off course EU will start lending money to Iceland to facilitate the accession, by the time people want to react or say NO (if they ever react and say NO) “hey, we have allready given you money, and you have allready signed this and that document” so the Goberment can give us the same story like with Icesave, and Magma, “If we reject it or if we don’t accept, nobody will lend money to Iceland or will want to do business with Iceland” then the referendum will be just a formality.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-07-22/iceland-to-face-eu-pressure-on-icesave-fishing-rules-in-membership-talks.html
Cost of financing was 11% of GDP ??!! Why do we think that is right or normal ?
In other words 3% more is spent on financing that on education or, say half the healthcare budget.
People need to wake up and start realising that private financing of government is just a way for very large, very powerful organizations to make vast amounts of money from greedy government officials who don’t want to make unpopular taxation decisions. The net result is that the whole nation has its wealth extracted by stealth over years of financing costs.
In 2011 the 2010 accounts on borrowing will read :
” Financing needs proved to be considerably lower than estimated primarily in thanks to the first tranch of €415m currency swap with the People’s Republic of China permitting the purchase of Chinese goods in Krona for import and re-export to other countries.
Thanks to the withdrawal of the EU application in 2010 Icelandic companies were able to freely export these goods to countries with which Iceland and the EFTA states have direct free trade agreements, without tariffs or other barriers. ”
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/81d100de-73fb-11df-87f5-00144feabdc0.html Iceland secures currency swap deal
https://www.icenews.is/index.php/2010/06/09/chinese-visit-to-iceland-brings-new-contracts/
Is nice to know that Iceland along with many other countries are slowly recovering from the world crisis. Nice info.
Is nice to know that Iceland along with many other countries are slowly recovering from the world crisis.