Reykjavík Grapevine - 09.03.2012, Blaðsíða 10

10
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 3 — 2012
Economics | Currency
Want To Buy US Dollars?
If you’re an Icelandic citizen you may not be able to…
Here’s what international journalists—
the same ones who’ve previously slagged
us off numerous times—are presently
saying:
• In Iceland, the voice of the people has
won
• In Iceland, true democracy and equal-
ity is at work
• Iceland is a once-vibrant economy
which has returned—fist-swinging—
from the living-dead
• Iceland is ‘now’ governed by a sensible,
strong, determined leadership that con-
siders the interests of its people above all
else
• Iceland has dug itself out of the crisis
without playing by the rules
• Iceland has stamped out corporate
greed, nepotism and cronyism
Oh, and let’s not forget:
• Iceland is still one of the happiest coun-
tries on this fine planet…
In February, there has been a deluge
of reporting covering Iceland’s so-called
reinstatement into the global monetary
community, its upgraded credit ratings,
and unorthodox methods to tackle the
debt crisis. It’s almost as if those finan-
cial journalists have no other up-to-date
source material to call upon. Even that
Chinese lion is starting to lose its eco-
nomic-media momentum. (The World
Bank recently suggested that the Chi-
nese economy is significantly slowing
down.)
Or perhaps someone’s just trying to
ramp up the heat on Greece? On March
1, commodities website, Stockhouse.
com, stated: “If Greek politicians were
really acting in the best interests of the
Greek people, they would have taken the
same path chosen by Iceland’s leaders—
default.” Bleak indeed. Bleaker still:
“There is no hope for Greece to repay its
debts by meeting the draconian burden
imposed on it. But the banks want their
money back, even if it means keeping
Greece in debtor’s prison.” CNN paints
a similar picture of our Hellenic cousins:
“Greece…will be lucky if it reaches its
target by 2020 in accordance with the
terms of its second bailout.”
Here’s Iceland, in February and early
March as the widely extolled paragon of
virtue and diligence:
• BBC: “Iceland debt ‘safe’ to invest after
ratings upgrade”
• CNN: “…three years on, Iceland is
poised to re-emerge from economic pur-
gatory…”
• Daily Telegraph: “Iceland’s Viking Vic-
tory” calls for hearty “congratulations…”
• DailyFinance.com: “…maybe…there’s
something we can learn from those hap-
Media | Marc Vincenz
Maybe you’re travelling to the US,
or anywhere else that might ac-
cept its currency. Maybe you want
to try your hand at gaming the eco-
nomic yo-yo of currency trading. Or
maybe you just like the look, design
or smell of American money. What-
ever your reasons, you should prob-
ably know a thing or two about buy-
ing US dollars before you proceed.
For starters, the rules about buying
dollars aren’t just a matter of bank pol-
icy—they’re enshrined in law. Specifi-
cally, it’s detailed in Act No. 127/2011
amending the Foreign Exchange Act,
the Customs Act and the Act on the
Central Bank of Iceland. As the name
of this law suggests, there have always
been restrictions and regulations when
it comes to buying foreign currency,
even before the 2008 bank collapse.
However, pre-crash it had more to do
with the buying and selling of foreign
securities. After the crash, things got a
lot more restrictive.
These restrictions were eased
somewhat in November 2009, but
there’s still a cap on how much foreign
currency you can buy, and a few other
provisions have been tossed in for good
measure, supposedly to help keep the
Icelandic króna stabilized and prevent
everyone from buying up metric tonnes
of dollars in the hopes of becoming
filthy rich when it does.
So what are these regulations, ex-
actly?
First of all, Article 13 d. of the act
states that if you’re buying foreign
currency, it better be because you’re
travelling. To wit: “At purchase or with-
drawal an individual shall demonstrate
the proposed trip by presenting a ticket
or receipt for payment of his scheduled
travel within four weeks.” If you happen
to be a crewmember of an airplane, you
can just show the bank your travel itin-
erary instead.
Second, you can only buy so many
dollars, and you’re restricted as to how
often you can do so. Specifically, the
bank will see to it that nobody purchas-
es or withdraws “foreign currency in
cash for an amount equivalent to more
than 350,000 kr. [$2,800 USD] on the
purchase- or withdrawal date for each
person under paragraph 1 per calendar
month.”
Third, if you’re an Icelandic resident
and will be living abroad for more than
one month, but less than six months,
you can transfer that dollar amount
from Iceland to yourself once a month.
In all cases of travelling outside of
Iceland with American dollars, you—
and only you!—are allowed to be carry-
ing those dollars. So if you bought two
grand and intend to take it out of Ice-
land, be sure to keep it in no one else’s
luggage but your own.
It’s expected that these restric-
tions will ease as the economy recov-
ers. And the economy won’t recover if
you keep dumping Icelandic króna on
the market, so do refrain from buying
thousands of dollars each month, if at
all possible. Thanks.
Well Here’s Another
Fine Mess You’ve
Gotten Us Into
Continues over
Walking down the main shopping
street in Reykjavík, it is hard to
miss the abundance of lava jewel-
lery for sale. perhaps this isn’t so
strange given that the entire sur-
face of Iceland is covered in volca-
nic rock. But, what if that special
piece of Iceland that you brought
home was not as Icelandic as you
thought it was?
After hearing a rumour that the lava
stones used to make many of these ear-
rings, bracelets and necklaces are ac-
tually imported, The Grapevine decided
to investigate.
We popped into Islandia, a tour-
ist shop whose stated ambition is “to
provide anything Icelandic the tour-
ist might desire.” Like in many other
stores, the lava jewellery there is la-
belled “Icelandic Design” and “Made
in Iceland.” This doesn’t technically say
anything about the lava rocks, but the
salespeople assured us that the lava
comes from volcanoes all over the is-
land.
But could that really be true? Were
they lying to us? Were they ill informed?
Isn’t the porous Icelandic lava simply
too fragile to be turned into beads?
At Iceland Gift Store, a salesclerk
told us more. “The Icelandic lava can-
not be polished,” she said, pointing to
a shiny lava stone on a silver necklace,
not unlike the ones you see in shop
windows all around town. This fact was
corroborated by a salesclerk at another
tourist shop. “But please don’t tell my
boss that I told you,” he said.
If there’s an authority selling Icelan-
dic design, it’s Kraum, self-described
as “a design store, which concentrates
on selling only the best of Icelandic
design” representing over 200 design-
ers, carrying clothes, jewellery, applied
art, and furniture among other things.
There the salesclerk said: “Icelandic
lava is too soft to be treated.” Thus,
shiny, polished rocks with holes drilled
through them are simply not Icelandic.
Jewellery designer Andrea Ellen,
who crafts jewellery “inspired by the
uniquely powerful colors, textures and
materials of Iceland,” explained that it
is difficult to work with Icelandic lava.
“I try to use stones that I or others have
found in Iceland,” she said, “but cut-
ting Icelandic lava is only possible on
a small scale and is very time consum-
ing.” This explains why Icelandic lava
is almost always mounted in a silver
frame, which protects the fragile rock.
If the lava isn’t from Iceland then,
where is it coming from? It seems
there’s no one answer or single sup-
plier. We heard that the polished rocks
came from Germany and Norway to
China and Japan. And even the non-
polished ones with a more Icelandic
look and feel to them are not guaran-
teed to be from Iceland. As Andrea ex-
plained, Indonesian lava is a good alter-
native to Icelandic lava because it has
a matte look, but is less porous, which
makes it more malleable.
So, is that lava stone necklace—the
one you wear everyday as a constant
reminder of your trip to this volcanic
island—actually “Found in Iceland”?
Well, it’s certainly unlikely, even if it was
“Made in Iceland” by an Icelandic de-
signer.
Tourism | Scam
LYNN KLEIN
ALÍSA KALYANOvA
Iceland In The International Eye
February
The Grapevine uncovers the true origins of lava jewellery “made in Iceland”
Don’t Get Too Excited About Your Authentic Icelandic Souvenir…
Mountaineers of Iceland • Skútuvogur 12E • 104 Reykjavík • Iceland
Telephone: +354 580 9900 Ice@mountaineers.is • www.mountaineers.is • www. activity.is
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