News - 25.11.2020

Households left behind in governmental support

The Icelandic government has in recent months introduced measures amounting to ISK 340 billion to counter the effects of the Covid epidemic. The vast majority of this capital is directed to the companies, around ISK 300 billion and the companies have used about 80 billion of that amount to date. Direct support for individuals and households will be around ISK 7 billion but as if it was not bad enough that such a small amount has been allotted to households in comparison to what the companies get, individuals and households have used their own savings by withdrawing their private pension savings amounting to ISK 21 billion. It must be borne in mind that private pension savings taken out due to Covid are subject to taxation, so about ISK 7.5 billion will be returned to the government in the form of tax revenue.

Based on the available data, it seems therefore that the government has had a direct income of 600 million ISK in profit when their own “rescue measures” have been deducted!

Have we not learned anything? Is the economic collapse that took place from 2008, and had catastrophic consequences for households in the country, really forgotten? If there was one thing we should have learned from that time then it was the enormous human tragedy that followed when all the "rescue packages" were solely aimed at the business and finance sectors and the homes and individuals were left out.

We must not fall back into this pit and VR demands that the government and financial institutions listen and take real action to help so that we will not have the same misery that followed the last collapse. Let's turn this around, learn from experience and this time put the greatest effort into helping individuals and families.