Iceland capital controls to be lifted this year

EUObserver reported in January 2015 on the first steps Iceland was taking towards lifting capital controls, in place since the economic crisis hit the country in the autumn of 2008. Icelandic authorities started discussions with the committees of failed banks about what conditions they would have to meet to be able to get exemptions from the capital controls.

This mechanism was implemented as key part of an economic plan which the Icelandic government organised in cooperation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the wake of the crisis. It was meant to prevent capital outflow as the country faced both banking and monetary crisis after the fall of country's three major banks.

Initially the controls were only meant to last for a relatively short period of time but they end up being in place for over six years.

ESO: Background information: Iceland's banking saga reverberates five years on http://www.europeansources.info/record/icelands-banking-saga-reverberates-five-years-on/

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