CALDEIRÃO DE BOLSA

Iceland’s currency is now non convertible. That means it technically has no value whatsoever and can not be used to purchase any needed imports. The Icelandic Central Bank has raised interest rates to 18% (Think about what that means for mortgages and credit cards for a moment) and has negotiated a large loan from the IMF in the hope that the Icelandic currency can become convertible again.

At the moment, Iceland has to pay for all imports with it’s limited reserves of foreign currency which are fast running out and it is in urgent negotiations with Nordic countries and with Russia to secure emergency loans.

According to Bloomberg, supermarkets in Iceland are resupplied each week, no supplies have arrived in the last two weeks and managers are saying that they don’t know when the next deliveries of supplies are expected.

Austria, Sweden and Spain have heavy exposure to emerging market debt and their currencies are likely to implode soon, threatening to blow apart the European Union.