Today the Central Bank of Iceland will publish on its website the preliminary statistics for the balance of payments in the third quarter of 2007 and the external position at the end of September.

The deficit on the current account was 31 b.kr. in Q3/2007, compared with 48.5 b.kr. in the second quarter. The principal explanation for this improvement is a turnaround in the income account in the amount of 16.5 b.kr. On the expenditure side, the reduction was approximately 20.5 b.kr., primarily because no dividend payments to foreign entities were recorded during the quarter, while they totalled nearly 20 b.kr. in Q2/2007. Dividend payments generally fall in the second quarter of the year. Reinvested earnings were 10 b.kr. less than in Q2; however, other interest expense increased. Income was 4 b.kr. less than in the second quarter, primarily because no dividend payments to domestic entities were recorded during the quarter, as opposed to more than 13 b.kr. recorded in Q2. Offsetting this was the increase in reinvestment and other interest income.

Press release with table (PDF-file)

No. 21/2007
December 4, 2007