Total financial liabilities of Iceland’s domestic sector stood at ISK 27,363 billion or 921% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in year-end 2019. Total financial assets stood at ISK 27,881 billion or 939% of GDP according to preliminary figures from Statistics Iceland.
Financial assets of households stood at 7,962 billion ISK while financial liabilities stood at 2,294 billion ISK at the end of 2019 or 268% and 77% of GDP, respectively. Total financial assets increased by 10%, while liabilities increased by around 6% between 2018 and 2019.
Financial assets of non-financial corporations stood at 3,216 billion ISK according to initial estimates and decreased by 5.7% from the year 2018. Financial liabilities stood at 6,903 billion ISK, decreasing by 1.8% between years.
Total financial assets of financial corporations stood at 14,926 billion ISK, increasing by 13% between years. However, financial liabilities were 15,755 billion ISK and raised by 11% from the year before.
At the end of 2019, the financial assets of the general government stood at 1,682 billion ISK, or 56.6% of GDP, while liabilities stood at 2,402 billion ISK or 80.9% of GDP.
The foreign sector’s financial assets stood at 3,625 billion ISK or 122% of GDP, while the liabilities stood at 4,132 billion ISK or 139% of GDP. Financial assets increased by 0.8% and liabilities by 12% between 2018 and 2019.
Planned benchmark revision and change of reference year
A benchmark revision of national accounts time series that was planned in addition to the publication of statistics for Q2 has been postponed. Revised time series are scheduled to be published along with the publication of figures for Q3 on 30 November 2020. Particular emphasis is placed on the revision of the sectoral classification in accordance with the ESA 2010, especially with regard to the demarcation of the general government sector in Icelandic national accounts, where some classifications are currently being examined. In all cases, the reclassifications refer to institutions that have hitherto been classified outside the general government sector.
In the process of reclassification of specific cases, formal advice has been requested from Eurostat. Eurostat’s opinions regarding the sector classification of the Housing Financing Fund and the institutions and funds that took over its role in a merge in 2020, with legislative changes at the end of 2019 as well as the classification of the Icelandic Student Loan Fund, have been made public on Eurostat‘s website. In both cases, the conclusion is that these institutions should be reclassified inside the general government sector. Concurrently with the benchmark revision the reference year for chain-linked volumes will be changed to 2015 instead of 2005 as has been the case since 2011.