Úr þjóðarbúskapnum - 01.12.1960, Blaðsíða 37

NOTES ON STATISTICAL DATA ABOUT THE ICELANDIC ECONOMY 1948-1958
one year to another with tolerable accuracy.
In recent months attempts have been made
to estimate private consumption directly.
These studies have not yet yielded final results
but the figures submitted here are believed to
represent the most plausible figures on the
basis of the available material. But they are
due to be replaced by better ones in the near
future.
Gross fixed asset formation is so defined as
to exclude maintenance and repairs. The figur-
es include trucks and cars except family cars.
Information on the movements of stocks is
very scanty except stocks of agricultural and
fish products. Changes in stocks of other pro-
ducts have been estimated in an indirect way.
The series for exports and imports give a
very misleading picture of the development
of these aggregates and their relation to GNP.
As mentioned earlier, prices in the period
under consideration have been rising very fast
in Iceland relative to prices in countries with
which Iceland conducts trade. On the other
hand the rate of exchange has moved in jumps.
A major devaluation occurred in 1950. The
official rate of exchange was maintained un-
changed until February 1960. But under the
pressure of rising internal prices the authori-
ties were forced to pay a premium on currency
delivered to the banks as well as differentiated
subsidies on exports. These payments were
financed by exchange charges and indirect
taxes on imports. The system of multiple exc-
hange rates was abolished last February when
the official rate was raised from 16.29 Icelandic
Kronur per US $ to 38.00 Kronur per US $.
The International Financial Statistics of the
International Monetary Fund contain descrip-
tions of the varying structures of the Icelandic
exchange rates.
In the Icelandic national accounts the prac-
tice has been adopted of treating all exchange
premia and subsides paid to exporters in ex-
cess of the official rate as subsidies.
Similary, all exchange charges and import
fees over and above the official selling rate
are included in indirect taxes. In our data
sheet we have inserted series for indirect taxes
and subsidies. It should be noted that these
figures also contain items unrelated to trans-
actions in foreign currencies such as domestic
sales taxes on the one hand and subsidies on
agricultural products on the other.
The terms of trade series refer only to
commodity exports and imports. The Icelandic
chapters in the International Financial Statis-
tick contain a division of the balance of pay-
ments into major categories. In the period
under consideration net receipts from a NATO
base have been of great importance to the
Icelandic economy. Since its value as an ex-
planatory variable for GNP may be found to
be significant we have included a series for
these receipts net of receipts for imports to
the base. To a large extent the net receipts
constitute direct payments of wages, salaries
and profits.
As mentioned earlier there are only two
price indices available for deflating purposes:
the consumer goods index and the house cons-
truction costs index. In order to obtain a single
deflator for the national accounts aggregates
the two indices could be combined into one
index, using as weights private consumption,
on the one hand, and government expenditure
plus fixed asset formation, on the other hand.
During the 1948—58 period the labor force
has been fully employed. In some years there
has been considerable overtime work. Unfor-
tunately, no systematic data are available on
work intensity. The wage index refers only to
official rates of unskilled workers. Similar indi-
ces for other groups are available but these
indices have not been combined in a compo-
site wage index.
All the important data about money and
banking are to be found in the Intemational
Financial Statitics.
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