Iceland Financial News

Come September, the hours of daylight and darkness in Iceland are briefly equal as summer recedes and the shadow of winter advances across the island. The wind gets a steely edge, stirring up white caps in the surrounding seas and lathering clouds and fog over mossy hillocks and volcanic rock formations like swirls of marshmallow fluff. Sensing the change of season, some 380,000 sheep (about one for every Icelander) begin to descend from the highlands after a summer of free-range gorging on grass, forbs (herbaceous flowering plants) and berries.

There were no aides and no note-takers in the Oval Office—just President Biden and his German guest. Chancellor Olaf Scholz came on such short notice that the only plane he could book, a small Airbus 321, had to refuel in Iceland. Russia’s war in Ukraine and the fighting in Gaza dominated the 90-minute meeting.

The World Happiness Report 2024, a partnership of Gallup, the Oxford Wellbeing Research Centre, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, and WHR’s Editorial Board, is out. Mint evaluates its metrics to explain why it may not be the final word on happiness. India is ranked 126 out of 143 nations surveyed.

Met Office had warned for weeks that magma — semi-molten rock — was accumulating under the ground, making an eruption likely. Hundreds of people were evacuated from the Blue Lagoon thermal spa, one of Iceland’s top tourist attractions, when the eruption began, national broadcaster RUV said. No flight disruptions were reported at nearby Keflavik, Iceland’s main airport.

state of emergency late Saturday as lava spewed from a new volcanic fissure on the Reykjanes peninsula, the fourth eruption to hit the area since December. A «volcanic eruption has started between stora Skogfell and Hagafell on the Reykjanes Peninsula,» said a statement from the Icelandic Met Office (IMO). Live video images showed glowing lava and billowing smoke.

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) -A volcano in Iceland erupted on Saturday for the fourth time since December, the country's meteorological office said, spewing smoke and bright orange lava into the air in sharp contrast against the dark night sky.

There’s another International Day on its way: 20 March. It’s marked on the calendar as the Day of Happiness. In an increasingly polarized world that looks set to become more so as political divisions deepen, where two major wars are raging, one in its third year and the other with no end in sight, and where not a single day goes by without countless acts of violence, celebrating an International Day of Happiness sounds absurdly Panglossian.

Mint in the week gone by. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has flagged the possible risks for retail investors from the build-up of bubbles in the stock market. The retail inflation for February came in at 5.09%, largely unchanged from the previous month, while core inflation eased further.

A movie based on Ethereum NFT collection Reactor Motors is in the works. Pierre Morel, renowned for directing action hits such as “Taken” and “Transporter 2,” will direct the inaugural feature film derived from an NFT collection.

Mint looks at the significance of free trade agreements for India going forward. Unlike a possible deal with the European Union (EU) or the US, India’s largest trading partners, the India-EFTA deal is unlikely to boost bilateral trade by much. In the January-December 2023 period, India’s exports to EFTA, which comprises Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland, was just $1.87 billion.

On Sunday, India signed the India-EFTA Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement, our first trade deal with any Western nation or group. It was signed with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), which comprises Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. It’s an innovative and well-balanced pact that covers two-way trade in goods and services as well as bilateral investments.

Microsoft software breached EU privacy rules and the bloc's executive also failed to implement adequate safeguards for personal data transferred to non-EU countries, the EU privacy watchdog said on Monday. The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) ordered the Commission to take measures to comply with privacy rules and to halt data transfer to the U.S. company and subsidiaries located in third countries which do not have privacy deals with the EU, setting a deadline of Dec. 9 for both orders.

India will have the option of temporarily withdrawing customs duty concessions on EFTA country goods under the trade agreement between the two sides, if the four European nation bloc would not fulfil its USD 100 billion investment obligations. Though the investments have to flow in 15 years — USD 50 billion in the first 10 years (counted after implementation of the pact) and another USD 5 billion in next five years, the trade deal also provides for a three-year grace period to the EFTA bloc to meet the obligations, according to the documents accompanying the agreement. India and four-nation European Free Trade Association (EFTA) bloc signed Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) on March 10 under which New Delhi received a foreign direct investment commitment of USD 100 billion in 15 years from the member countries of the grouping. The EFTA members are Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.

India-EFTA trade deal: In a landmark deal with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), India has signed a trade and economic partnership agreement (TEPA) to boost trade and investments for developed countries- Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland. Under the agreement, the four-member EFTA has committed $100 billion in investments in India and the tariffs between both blocs are expected to reduce.

India has signed a trade agreement with Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland on Sunday that includes a commitment of $100 billion investment and creating 1 million direct jobs in India in the next 15 years

India on Sunday signed a trade and economic partnership agreement with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) — a grouping of Switzerland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland — that includes a binding $100-billion investment commitment. As part of the Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA), EFTA has committed to promote investments to increase the stock of foreign direct investments (FDI) in India by $100 billion in the next 15 years, and to facilitate the generation of one million direct employment in India through such investments, the government said in a statement. «The global leadership of EFTA countries in innovation and R&D across diverse spheres...will open up new doors of collaboration,» PM Narendra Modi said about the trade agreement.

mega trade deal between New Delhi and the four-nation European bloc EFTA will not only open up broad market access for Swiss businesses in India but is set to improve the legal framework and predictability for them, the Swiss government said on Sunday. The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) States — Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland — signed a Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) with India that came after around 16 years of negotiations. Under the mega trade pact, the four European countries are looking at making an investment of USD 100 billion in India over the next 15 years. The trade deal will provide a window to Indian exporters to access large European and global markets besides allowing companies from the four EFTA countries to expand businesses and investment in India.

free trade pact with a four-member European bloc, Norway on Sunday said it will eliminate customs duties for almost 98 per cent of the imports from India under the framework of the pact. The ambitious trade pact, signed between India and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) comprising Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein, aims to expand trade across a range of areas including pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, new technologies and machinery. After the EEA (European Economic Area) agreement, this could become one of the most important trade agreements Norway has ever entered, said Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere. At a media briefing, Norway's Minister of Trade and Industry Jan Christian Vestre described the Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) as a major result-oriented milestone that would not only boost two-way trade but also promote a rules-based trading system.

European Free Trade Association (EFTA), comprising Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland, aiming to boost trade and investments between the two regions. This agreement is expected to bring several benefits to Indian consumers and the economy. Key Benefits for Indian Consumers One of the major benefits of this trade pact is the phased-out custom duties on imported goods, which will enable domestic consumers to access high-quality Swiss products such as watches, chocolates, biscuits, and clocks at lower prices. The agreement includes tariff concessions on a range of products imported from Switzerland, including seafood, mediterranean fruits, coffee, oils, sweets, processed foods, and wine, among others. This will lead to a drop in prices of these products in Indian markets, making them more affordable and accessible to Indian consumers.

India signed a free trade pact on Sunday with a group of European nations — Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein — committing to reduce tariffs, while New Delhi receives $100 billion in investments over the next 15 years. India and the members of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) held 21 rounds of talks over 16 years to clinch the broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement. Here are key facts about the trade pact:

India and four-nation European bloc EFTA on Sunday signed a free trade agreement to help promote investments and exports of key domestic services sectors such as IT, audio-visual, and movement of skilled professionals. The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) members are Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland. Union Minister Piyush Goyal, quoting PM Narendra Modi, said, «Despite structural diversities in many aspects, our economies possess complementarities that promise to be a win-win situation for all nations. With the opening up of enormous trading and investment opportunities, we have reached a new level of trust and ambition. The trade agreement symbolizes our shared agreement to open fair, equitable trade, as well as generate growth and employment for the youth.»