The revised annual national accounts for 2017 show a 4% increase in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in real terms, compared to 3.6% shown in preliminary annual national accounts published earlier this year. The economic growth in 2017 is mainly driven by a 7% increase in the gross domestic final expenditure.
Household final consumption increased by 7.9% and government final consumption by 3.1% while gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) increased by 9.5%. Increase of 4.8% was observed in the business sector GFCF, 18.4% in residential construction and 26.9% in general government GFCF.
At the same time, exports grew by 5.5% while imports grew by 12.5%. This resulted in a 106.8 billion ISK surplus in the balance of trade in goods and services in 2017. Despite a large foreign trade surplus, higher growth in imports compared to that of exports contributed to a slower growth in GDP than in gross domestic final expenditure.
During 2017 the terms of trade improved by 0.8% of GDP from the previous year. Surplus in primary income from abroad was 1.5 billion ISK in 2017 compared to 44.8 billion ISK in 2016. Surplus in the balance of trade and in primary income from abroad, according to figures from the Central bank of Iceland, results in a 108.3 billion ISK current account surplus in 2017, or 4.1% of GDP. Despite improved terms of trade a lower surplus in primary income from abroad compared to previous year leads to lower growth in GNI than in GDP, or by 3% in real terms in 2017.
Due to delays in the publication of the annual State accounts for 2017, the publication of national accounts results for 2017 are presented subject to changes as more information becomes available. For the same reason the publication of the General government finances 2017 - revision, scheduled for 14 September, has been postponed until 13 December.
Gross Domestic Product 2017 Statistical Series