Internationally, a wide consensus has been achieved between governments and economists that price stability is the most appropriate main objective of monetary policy. The Icelandic economy has witnessed turbulent times since 2001 and undergone major structural changes, particularly in the financial sector. Iceland moved on to an inflation target under conditions of strong macroeconomic imbalances, one result of which was a depreciation of the króna by one-third over a period of eighteen months until near the end of 2001. This development led to a shortlived inflationary episode which peaked in January 2002. Afterwards inflation slowed down sharply and moved below the 2½% target before the end of 2002. It remained below or close to the target into the second half of 2004, but has been above target since then. In the current episode, the twelve-month inflation rate peaked in August 2006 at 8.4%. Since then it has been decelerating and the twelvemonth increase in the CPI measured 7.4% in February 2007. However, the rise in the core indices remained above 8%. Cuts in indirect taxation will bring down headline inflation very rapidly over the next few months, although the reduction in underlying inflation will be slower. The Central Bank has explained in detail the reasons for the inflation target overshoot over the past two to three years. Suffice it to mention here that the episode of overheating that now appears to be coming to an end originated in large-scale investments [in the power and aluminium sectors] in east Iceland and elsewhere.
[12] Duncan Lamont, Apr 2018, Market views - What is the point of equity market [13] McKinsey Global Private Markets Review 2019, Private markets come of age [14] CFA Institute Mar 2019, MIFID II Research Unbundling: A Survey Yielding Mixed Results [15] This year, MATCH has been enhanced with a new “Deal Fridays” format, reflecting a joint partnership with Enterprise Singapore to connect a carefully curated list of growthstage ASEAN companies with investors through weekly investor-company match-making events. Since the launch of “Deal Fridays” in June 2019, over 400 companies and 400 investors have participated in Deal Fridays.