Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1939, Page 60
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LE NORD
sums of money. The Icelanders have therefore, like other peoples,
entering upon the work of utilizing the natural resources of their
countries on a large scale, had to import foreign capital. The
total foreign debts of Iceland, that is, those of the state, towns,
districts, and individuals, amount at present to 90 to 100 million
krónur.1) This is a considerable amount considering the number
of the population; yet it is not a great part of the sums which
in a very short space of time have been absorbed by the various
reforms made; nor, if we bear in mind the country’s large export
trade in proportion to its population, is this sum so heavy, com-
paratively, as it may seem at the first glance.
I have mentioned the changes and progress made in Iceland
during the last fifty years, but by far the most active of these
years have, in many respects, been the last two decades. Permit
me to mention a few figures illustrative of the progress made in
various fields in these last years; I shall also mention a few figures
to show the use made of foreign capital during the same time.
The oldest tolerably complete statistics respecting the foreign
debt of Iceland which are comparable to the latest statistical re-
turns issued by the Icelandic Bureau of Statistics, date from 1922.
At the end of that year the total foreign debt amounted to 59.5
million krónur. But at the close of 1936 the debt had increased
to 90.4 millions. Thus, in the course of the last fourteen years
foreign capital to an amount of 31 millions has been imported in
excess of what has been exported (i. e. instalments of loans).
Unfortunately, complete returns are not available to show all
the nation’s undertakings in these years, but the few available
figures may give an idea of what an active period this has been.
From 1923—1936 the State expenditure on roads, bridges,
the telegraph and telephone service, and all kinds of buildings,
was 30 millions, of which 13 millions were absorbed by roads
and bridges.
The expenditure on the cultivation of land from 1924—
1937 is put at 19 millions, which is considered a cautious estimate
by those best acquainted with the facts. The year 1924 is here
taken as a starting-point, because that year the government be-
gan to grant a special pecuniary aid to those who did improve-
ment work in this field.
a) The rate of exchange of the Icelandic króna has since 1925 been
22.15 to the pound sterling.