The value of exported services in the first quarter of 2025 is estimated at 198.1 billion ISK while the value of imported services is estimated at 178.4 billion ISK. Therefore, the surplus in the balance of trade in services is estimated at 19.7 billion ISK compared with a surplus of 15.7 billion ISK for the same period the year before. For the period April 2024 to March 2025, the surplus of balance of trade in services is estimated at 280.5 billion ISK compared with a surplus of 318.2 billion ISK in the 12 months prior.
Value of exports of services increased by 11% in the first quarter
The total value of exports of services in the first quarter of 2025 increased by 19.3 billion ISK, or 11%, from the same period the year before, at current rates of exchange. The total exported value of travel in the first quarter of 2025 increased by 3.4 billion ISK compared with the first quarter of 2024, or by 4%. Exported value of transport services increased by 2.9 billion ISK, or 6%. The exported value of other business services increased by 43% and the exported value of telecommunication, computer and information services increased by 8% compared with the same period the previous year.
For the period April 2024 to March 2025, the total value of exports of services was 995.4 billion ISK and remained almost the same compared with the 12 months prior at current rates of exchange. Increase in exported value of travel in the same period was 3%, compared with the 12 months prior. However, there was a decrease in the exported value of transport services by 1%, while the exported value of other business services increased by 5%.
Value of imports of services increased by 9% in the first quarter
The total value of imports of services in the first quarter of 2025 increased by 15,3 billion ISK or 9%, from the same period the year before, at current rates of exchange. The value of imported travel increased by 7%, compared with the first quarter of 2024. The imports of other business services also increased, by 22%, as well as imported transportation services, by 3%.
For the period April 2024 to March 2025, the total value of imports of services was 714.9 billion ISK and increased by 6%, compared with the 12 months prior at current rates of exchange. The imported value of travel increased by 6% for the above-mentioned period. The imported value of other business services increased by 4% and the imported value of transportation by 5%.
Deficit in balance of trade in goods and services 65.5 billion in the first quarter
The value of exported goods in BOP* in the first quarter of 2025 is estimated at 252.9 billion ISK and the value of imported goods 338.1 billion ISK. Hence, a deficit in the balance of trade in goods in BOP is estimated at 85.3 billion ISK.
The total export of trade in goods and services is therefore estimated at 451 billion ISK in the first quarter of 2025 compared with 403.1 billion ISK in the same period the year before. Import of trade in goods and services is estimated at 516.6 billion ISK in the first quarter of 2025 compared with 439.2 billion ISK in the same period in the previous year. The deficit of trade in goods and services is estimated at 65.5 billion ISK in the first quarter of 2025 compared with a deficit of 36.1 billion ISK in the first quarter the year before.
For the period April 2024 to March 2024, the deficit in the balance of trade in goods and services is estimated at 68.1 billion ISK compared with a surplus of 22.6 billion ISK in the 12 months prior.
Monthly trade in goods and services
Parallel to this publication, Statistics Iceland updates data for monthly trade in goods and services for the first quarter of 2025. In March 2025, total exports of trade in goods and services is estimated at 149.1 billion ISK and total imports of trade in goods and services is estimated at 173.3 billion ISK. The deficit of balance of trade in goods and services is therefore estimated at 24,2 billion ISK in March 2025.
Revision of foreign trade figures
In this release, time series for goods and services trade are revised retrospectively as needed, as part of a benchmark revision, which takes place every five years in conjunction with a revision of the national accounts time series. These revised national accounts will be published on 30 May 2025.
Export data for the years 2015–2020 have been revised due to the availability of previously unreported provisional export declarations, mostly related to marine products. As a result, export values increase by over 100 million ISK in 2020 and up to 5.8 billion ISK in 2016.
On the import side, estimates of goods smuggling have been updated for 2020–2024, resulting in increased imports. Additionally, import values from postal shipments have been corrected for 2023, which leads to a reduction in total imports for that year. The net effect is a reduction of approximately 1.2 billion ISK in goods imports for 2023 and an increase of over 1.2 billion ISK for 2024.
For service trade, there are two main reasons for the revision of the time series from 2010–2024. First, financial intermediation services indirectly measured (FISIM) have been reassessed for the period 2010–2024, resulting in both increases and decreases in service exports, but a consistent reduction in service imports over the entire period. Service export values decline the most in 2014 by 1.7 billion ISK, while the largest increase occurs in 2016, amounting to 10.9 billion ISK. On the import side, the largest reduction is 6.6 billion ISK in 2013, and the smallest is around 200 million ISK in 2019.
Second, transactions in the pharmaceutical industry have been revised for the years 2018–2024. When publishing trade in services and GDP data for 2022 (in February 2023), certain transactions related to the pharmaceutical industry were excluded due to concerns about whether they met the national accounts and external trade standards for genuine economic activity. There has been persistent uncertainty regarding how to treat transactions within multinational enterprise groups in trade and national accounts statistics, as cross-border intra-group flows often do not align with actual economic activity, such as investment, employment, or production.
With the forthcoming updates to the System of National Accounts (SNA 2025) and Balance of Payments Manual (BPM7), a new harmonised chapter on globalisation is being introduced. Statistics Iceland has decided to implement the relevant recommendations immediately.
According to the new guidance, such transactions should be included in both national accounts and external trade statistics, but also clearly delineated so that their impact on the domestic economy can be assessed. Over the coming months, work will be undertaken to improve the presentation of economic statistics, allowing for separate identification of such flows.
The decision to include this activity results in increased service exports related to cross-border use of intellectual property and increased service imports for R&D services linked to that IP. As a result, service export values rise by 16.6 billion ISK in 2021 and by 59.8 billion ISK in 2022, while service import values increase by 9.6 billion ISK in 2024 and by 32.6 billion ISK in 2022.