“In many respects, what is currently going on in our economy are diseases of affluence; the going has been so good for so long that people have perhaps started taking on more risk than they should,” said Geir H. Haarde, chairman of the Independence Party and Foreign Minister, in a speech he gave at a meeting of the party council in Akureyri yesterday, reports Morgunbladid.
According to Morgunbladid, Geir referred to the volatile conditions in the local equity and foreign exchange markets as “growing pains” and called them “the symptoms of rapid economic growth.” It was therefore especially important now that all who made important decisions be careful. That was the message of the government, and the government intended to use the projected ISK 20 billion budget surplus this year to save for the lean years and retire debt.
