News

A new Act on e-cigarettes and refillcontainers will take effect on 1 March 2019. The Act is based on the Bill presented by the Minister of Health on the import, marketing, use and safety of these prod...

Yesterday was a historic day when Iceland attended the first session of the Human Rights Council since being elected to the Council this summer. The session began with an opening statement from the ne...

Treasury operated at ISK 29bn surplus Reduced levies on wage-earners — personal deduction to increase Child benefits to increase Healthcare in the forefront Increased all...

The Icelandic Government today announced a new Climate Strategy, intended to boost efforts in cutting net emissions. The new measures are to help Iceland meet its Paris Agreement targets for 2030 and ...

Following an amendment to the Act on Organ Donation adopted by the Icelandic parliament Althingi, in the future a deceased person will be presumed to have consented to cadaveric organ donation unless ...

This is the name of a new agency, established by a decision of the Minister of Social Affairs and Equality, which commenced work in May 2018. Initially the Inspectorate will be responsible for adminis...

Meeting held at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs In attendance were: Bjarni Benediktsson, Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, chairman; Már Guðmundsson, Governor of the Central Bank ...

Moody’s Investors Service ("Moody’s") has today changed the Government of Iceland's sovereign rating outlook to positive from stable and affirmed Iceland’s A3 long-term issuer rating.  The key d...

A DNA analysis of a whale caught in Iceland on 7 July has concluded that it was a hybrid of a fin whale and a blue whale, not a blue whale. The analysis was conducted by the Icelandic Marine and Fresh...

Iceland was elected to the Human Rights Council at the United Nations General Assembly in New York today, having received 172 out of 178 votes. Iceland thereby fills the vacancy left by the United Sta...

The Financial Stability Council held its third meeting of the year 2018 on Tuesday 26th of June. The meeting discussed that risk in the financial system was still moderate and that the output gap has ...

Fellow Icelanders. At the beginning of December 1918, Elka Björnsdóttir, a labourer in Reykjavik, wrote an entry in her journal, as she did at the end of each workday. Elka was 37 years old at the tim...

Today, rating agency Fitch Ratings affirmed Iceland’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at A with a stable outlook. According to the rating agency, this rating balances the econom...

Primary recommendations: Financial stability shall take priority over price stability if conditions develop such that the former is jeopardised. The Central Bank’s sphere of responsibility sh...

Meeting held at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs In attendance were: Bjarni Benediktsson, Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, chairman; Már Guðmundsson, Governor of the Central Bank ...

This statement is presented by several responsible parties in the Icelandic fishing industry, the minister of fisheries, the Marine Research Institute, the Directorate of Fisheries and the Fisheries A...

The management strategy for Icelandic fish stocks, in general, is to maintain the exploitation rate at the level which is consistent with the Precautionary Approach and that generates maximum sustaina...

The Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs today published a report on the progress of plans to remove restrictions on cross-border capital movements and foreign currency trading. The minister shal...

The second meeting of the Financial Stability Council was held on Tuesday March 20 with a continuation on April 13. The meeting discussed the risk in the financial system which is still considered m...

The polling stations abroad are all of the diplomatic missions of Iceland, i.e. Embassies, Permanent Missions (except the Permanent Mission to NATO in Brussels), and General Consulates, along with the...