Last week’s highlights
The number of foreign passengers to Iceland via Keflavík Airport, published last week, indicates that the tourism industry has returned to pre-pandemic levels. Almost 243,000 foreign passengers left Iceland via Keflavík Airport in August, which is 3% fewer than in August 2019, the year before the pandemic hit. This is the second month in a row that the number is close to the same month in 2019.
Registered unemployment was 3.1% in August, 1.4 percentage points lower than in August 2021. Unemployment is now roughly at pre-pandemic levels.
The Central Bank of Iceland published the minutes of the Monetary Policy Committee 22-23 August. All five committee members agreed that the CBI’s key rate should be raised further and an increase in the range of 0.5-1.0 percentage points was discussed. All members voted in favour of a 0.75 pp increase, although one member would have preferred to raise rates by 1 pp. The CBI’s key rate (the seven-day term deposit rate) is 5.5% after the increase.
The week ahead
On Wednesday, the CBI releases payment intermediation data.
Markets and Economic Overview
![Gönguleið](https://images.prismic.io/landsbankinn/33cdc5f2-10ba-4d29-a88e-3db117f83c02_Gullfoss-gonguleid.jpg?fit=max&w=3840&&q=50)
![](https://images.prismic.io/landsbankinn/a923b976-0b6c-45a6-b7b7-b7efbe46320a_Landsbankinn_Irma_Abstrakt_016.jpg?fit=max&w=3840&rect=468,429,640,480&q=50)
![Litríkir bolir á fataslá](https://images.prismic.io/landsbankinn/0715ffd5-f0a2-446e-bbf1-561d88cd1730_Fataverslun-bolir-varasamt-kortagengi.jpg?fit=max&w=3840&rect=240,0,1440,1080&q=50)
![Paprika](https://images.prismic.io/landsbankinn/a06f0e51-f8d7-4614-95bf-d3f9a1b06eba_Paprika-iStock-518590344-2020.jpg?fit=max&w=3840&rect=210,0,1600,1200&q=50)
![Krani með stiga](https://images.prismic.io/landsbankinn/77bfc8fa-18ef-4436-87e4-b0ba22c46e1b_Krani-med-stiga.jpg?fit=max&w=3840&rect=157,0,2493,1870&q=50)
![Seðlabanki Íslands](https://images.prismic.io/landsbankinn/d633164a-2af2-4a30-90a9-4db379b86373_MBL0019286-Se%C3%B0labanki-1920.jpg?fit=max&w=3840&rect=0,50,1920,1440&q=50)
![](https://images.prismic.io/landsbankinn/bc876641-cdb4-47dd-95bf-a6e3bb856dbc_Landsbankinn_Irma_Abstrakt_09.jpg?fit=max&w=3840&rect=492,263,960,720&q=50)
![Íslenskir peningaseðlar](https://images.prismic.io/landsbankinn/ead4a7e4-1c49-4fdd-ad0c-ef6a7557f1df_Sedlar-ISK.jpg?fit=max&w=3840&rect=107,0,1707,1280&q=50)
![](https://images.prismic.io/landsbankinn/35de1bcf-c5e3-4cd3-ae60-cf32894ad792_LB_Office_11200+1920px.jpg?fit=max&w=3840&rect=107,0,1707,1280&q=50)
![Fólk að ganga við Helgafell](https://images.prismic.io/landsbankinn/37016ca6-285d-43c3-89de-87a6d932054d__33A7441_large2400x1600.jpg?fit=max&w=3840&rect=1604,0,796,597&q=50)