As many as two thousand people protested in a demonstration in Reykjavik yesterday against the management of the Central Bank of Iceland.
The demonstrators were irritated by the enforcement of the new monetary policy in Iceland and also by the unfortunate statements of the present Director of the Central Bank, David Oddsson. The crowd called for his resignation.
The protestors were holding banners with slogans ‘where is our money?’ and ‘stop playing with our future’ and promised to gather again next Saturday if their demands are not met.
I must agree that man is a disaster as central bank manager. I you compare him with Stefan Ingves Swedish central bank boss. I have never seen or heard him “live” TV or Radio, he is only seen giving very short comments innewspaper articles. And then he basically only repeats what the central bank already said in their quarterly report. He never gives statements of any importance of his own, this is always done in documents prepared by the entire board of the central bank.
But there is a difference, Ingves is an old banker and nothing else. Oddson is a politician and nothing else!!
“This is also pretty clear “Iceland is not going to let down their obligations”.
That sentence is quite clear if you take it in context and in no way contradicts what he was saying about the bank debts. He’s saying that Iceland as a country will not default on any international debts.
He spends the first half of the interview saying that the Iceland govenment will not guarantee foreign deposits. In fairness, he never actually says that the Icelandic government is going to renege on the first part of the deposit covered by the passport sceme (~20k euros). Given the import of what he was saying and given Haarde’s repeated evasiveness on the passport scheme when interviewed, if I were the UK government, I’d have pulled the plug on Iceland.
Don’t worry about our debts, let’s party and enjoy whatever we still got. Whohooooooo.
This is also pretty clear “Iceland is not got to let down their obligations”.
Maybe that guy shouldn’t give any more interviews, until he knows exactly what to say.
“happens is that this foreign debt will be settled and of course it is a fact that the foreign creditors will unfortunately only get 5-10-15% of their claims.”
The IoM and Jersey depositors will be looking at a better situation than that, 30% has been mention so far.
“But it didn’t sound like he was running away, from Iceland’s financial obligations.”
He did not categorically and explicitly say that he would honour all his international obligations did he? The situation was extremely delicate and he said this
“but we have made this rather drastic decision and say: we are not going to pay the banks’ foreign debts.”
Thats pretty clear and explains the UK reaction.
Oddson said:”those who lend this money, lend this money for profit,nothing wrong with that. They have to be stuck with that, but not the main street.”
this is like Nostradamus ;) But by “the main street” doesn’t he mean ordinary savers?
Later he says quite clearly:
“Iceland is not got to let down their obligations” By obligations I suppose he means financial obligations.
I am not good at Icelandic, and Oddson wasn’t very clear in his intentions (a flaw for a central bank boss!!) But it didn’t sound like he was running away, from Iceland’s financial obligations.
I think you will find that the Icelandic population will be “doing the dishes” for the next ten years,while the same old gang continues to dine at the top table.
The directional instability and greed of the government is matched only by the insufferable arrogance and conceit of its politicians.
Be accountable,like everybody else in a job…….and resign.
New blood required,please.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122418335729241577.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Wall Steet Journal has published on Friday excerpts of his interview in English.
@GreatDane:
I recently found a translation (not perfect, but close enough) of Oddsson’s infamous interview at: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=26irOb_RxhU
Note that subsequent discussions about Oddsson actually meaning creditors, and not savers, are both ignorant and confused. When a bank is declared insolvent, savers are classified as creditors! That’s why Oddsson should have explicitly said that, in a worst-case scenario, all the bank savers would be treated as preferential creditors. That’s what all other countries would say to retain confidence in their banking systems, but Oddsson didn’t. What an idiot – and Icelanders will unfortunately be paying the cost for years to come…
@Gray, Germany: I saw it, and I didn’t understand what he was saying. And I understand Norwegian and Swedish very well, since I worked in those countries for longer periods of time.
Could somone from Iceland please say what he said exactly?
And what does he mean by “external” debt? The state of Iceland doesn’t automatically inherit all debts from a bank, only the ones they agreed to by signing various charters, for example the one that guarantees 20,000EUR per account holder.
It is strange that a National Bank manager tell the world what Iceland tend to do or not to do, this should be firmly in the hands of the prime minister.
The prime minister is elected by the people, and also answers to them in elections every fourth year.
[…] no responses There have been many stories floating around how many protested on Friday. I have heard rumors from only few and the biggest that there were really 5.000 people there. The truth is that there were several hundred there. […]
History is already concluding that Oddsson’s recent comments cost Iceland billions. I can’t believe he hasn’t been forced out yet…
As an Icelandic citizen by naturalization, I have the witnessed the transition of David Oddsson from PM to Central Bank Boss and always wondered why there was never any objection to a politician taking a position that requires economic experience and education. Unfortunately the nation depended on this man and said nothing. Researchers insisted that Iceland was heading for a downfall a year ago if they did not change their financial and economic infrastructure. The government ignored it, the nation followed. This nation’s crisis is a combination of unskilled and irresponsible politicians that have made the country famous for such a negative situation. I am mortified and crushed that this is happening to my beloved Iceland.
Right, Chris! And for those who still don’t believe that Oddsson started the mess, pls watch his interview on Iceland TV:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26irOb_RxhU
Well, this is the effing governor of Iceland’s central bank speaking, and clearly saying the nation won’t pay for the foreign debts of the banks! Of course, other governments took this for serious. Hell, if you’re in such a position, you have responsibility for your words, because they will have consequences. Oddsson either didn’t know this, or didn’t care. This guy is a total failure and has to go!
the demos r nothing and should be for all not only Odsson but all the three governors,they r not economists just politicians who applied wrong economics.At the moment the party is over either join the EU, adopt Norwegian kronor or bailout from IMF with conditions such as structural adjustment programmes that means less spending and no joyriders in the govt
Sadly Oddssons stupid comments seem to be
the catalyst for the illegal UK action.
The quicker he is removed from his cushy
job the better.
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2000 people shouldn’t be underestimated. Iceland is a small nation, and this is almost 1 pervent of the poplation. Imagine 2 million people demonstrating in the USA! If this gains traction, and is supported by the Icelandic media, it may result in a change pf leadership. And this would be good for international support, because, let’s face it, nobody really want’s to bolster the guys who were responsible for this mess. Oddsson & Haarde = failure!
Reuters reports that 2,000 people attended. There is a English language 1.39 minutes free video available at their website.