Iceland’s Arion Bank says it is preparing to turn to international credit markets with a bond issue within the next 12 months. Arion has never issued bonds before and is the state-created successor to Kaupþing, which went bankrupt in 2008. Read the full story

According to the latest and final report by the IMF on Iceland’s economic recovery, volcanic eruptions and continued financial instability overseas both have potential to damage Iceland’s economic recovery, which the report otherwise praises. Read the full story

Icelandic local governments will be asked to employ jobseekers and students to help people affected by the current Grimsvotn volcanic eruption. A similar project ran last year when the volcano under Eyjafjallajokull erupted. Read the full story

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) today approved the third review of the Economic Recovery Programme agreed by the IMF and the Icelandic government. This opens the way for disbursement of the third tranche of the Fund’s loan provided to the Icelandic government which amounts to around ISK 19 billion. In addition, loans from Poland and Nordic countries are also expected to be forthcoming following the review. Read the full story

Ministry of Finance press release: Agreement has been reached on a letter of intent for the second review under Iceland’s Stand-By Arrangement with the IMF. The review is tentatively scheduled to be discussed by the IMF’s Executive Board on April 16. Read the full story

It’s not a good time to be a car dealer in Sweden. The lingering economic recession affected consumer car sales to the tune of a 13.9 percent drop in new car registrations in July, year-on-year. The total of 14,512 new car registrations in July represents a 25 per cent fewer car sales compared to last year. Read the full story

This June, 95 Icelandic companies filed for bankruptcy compared to 92 in June 2008, according to Statistics Iceland; a year-to-year increase of around three percent. Read the full story

Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir wished Iceland congratulations on the signing of its new stability pact at a ceremony this afternoon at the National Culture House. Read the full story

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) predicts that the rate of unemployment in Iceland will reach 9.9 percent over the next year, meaning a still bigger increase from current levels. On the other hand, the organisation predicts that inflation will drop to 2.4 percent annually in 2010, whereas current 12 month inflation June-June is at 12.2 percent according to Statistics Iceland. Read the full story

The consolidation of server sites is currently the driving force being the implementation of virtualisation in companies of all shapes and sizes. However desirable the end results, virtualisation can often be a painful process because most backup solutions are unable to offer total security when it comes to backup and recovery. Read the full story