Newly published figures on the turnover of the main industries according to value added tax reports, as well as figures on the number of people employed, indicate that the economy is still slowing down. VAT turnover in January and February decreased by 5% in real terms year-on-year, and the number of people employed remained more or less the same in February.
Cumulatively over the last twelve months, turnover has decreased by 1.3% in real terms year-on-year. It should be borne in mind that the turnover figures lack information on the production of medicines, but Statistics Finland is looking at basic data related to that.
This appears in new Hagsjá of Landsbanki’s analysis department, which bears the title Evidence of a cooling economy.
More turnover in the fishing industry
It also states that despite a decline in real value over the reporting period as a whole, i.e. January and February, different trends were observed depending on the industry. There has been more turnover in the fisheries sector, which can be attributed to fur fishing and increased turnover in fish farming, but there has been a lot of force in the export of farm products in recent months.
Turnover in IT and telecommunications has also increased significantly, which can largely be attributed to increased turnover in data centers. Large investments in data centers of late have started to pay off in increased service exports, which we expect to continue to grow this year.
Turnover in car sales increased considerably
Furthermore, it is said that it is worth noting that turnover in car sales has increased considerably in the first two months of the year.
“It can probably be attributed to the fact that car dealerships and car rental companies imported quite a few passenger cars before the end of the year, due to the increase in excise duties on cars that came into effect at the end of the year. According to the report of the Automotive Industry Association, new registrations this year have increased by 53% compared to the previous year, but the association says this is most evident from more registrations at vehicle rental companies. Imports of cars this year have decreased significantly, which indicates that to newly register cars that were brought to Iceland before the end of the year,” says the bank’s Hagsjá.
