The financial net worth of households in Iceland increased by 17% between 2013 and 2014 and stood at 2,638 billion ISK, or 131.7% of GDP, at the end of 2014 according to the latest data from Statistics Iceland.
Total financial assets of households at the end of 2014 stood at 4,562 billion ISK, of which insurance technical reserves (mostly ownership of households in pension fund reserves) constituted the largest part at 76%. Shares and other equity held by households increased by nearly 25% between 2013 and 2014 and stood at 64 billion ISK. Total financial liabilities of households decreased by nearly 2% between the years led, primarily, by a decrease in household loans (2.1%).
The financial assets of non-financial corporations stood at 4,777 billion ISK, or 238.4% of the GDP, while the financial liabilities stood at 8,231 billion ISK or 411% of the GDP in 2014. The financial net worth of non-financial corporations in 2014 was negative at 3,454 billion ISK, but increased by 4.3% between the years 2013 and 2014.
The financial net worth of financial corporations sector was negative at 3,573 billion ISK at the end of 2014, although included within this result are financial corporations in winding-up proceedings, whose net worth was negative at 3,614 billion ISK at this time. Not including the latter, the financial corporations registered a positive financial net worth at 40.7 billion ISK during this period.
The general government recorded a negative financial net worth at 968 billion ISK at the end of 2014, but saw an increase of almost 3% from the previous year.
Total financial assets and liabilities of all resident sectors of the Icelandic economy (including non-financial and financial corporations, households, non-profit-institutions-serving-households (NPISHs) and the general government) stood at 24,331 billion ISK and 29,642 billion ISK respectively, registering a decrease in financial net worth of 8% from the previous year.
Foreign sector’s financial net worth was positive at 5,320 billion ISK at the end of 2014, but has decreased by nearly 8% from the previous year.
The development of financial accounts’ methodology is an on-going process, complicated by a large presence of financial corporations undergoing a winding-up process in Iceland. As the accounts of these corporations disappear from the financial balance sheet of the country, likely by the end of 2015, we expect a more straightforward procedure for data processing and interpretation of results.
Next scheduled publication of financial accounts: September 2016. Further information on method and various classifications, see metadata.
Statistics (see Financial Accounts)