As is stated in the 25 March press release from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the capital account liberalisation process aims to minimise the negative impact on the bond market. In view of this, Government Debt Management (GDM) has made an agreement with the primary dealers that GDM will keep a close watch on bond market developments and will support the market with the purchase and/or sale of Treasury bonds on Monday 28 March, if deemed necessary. In addition, GDM and primary dealers have made an agreement where parties that purchase foreign currency in upcoming Central Bank of Iceland auctions can sell the Treasury their Treasury bills and bonds maturing before year-end 2013 so as to finance the purchases.
The purpose of this is to counteract the volatility and uncertainty that may develop in the market.

Further information can be obtained from Ingvar H. Ragnarsson at the Ministry of Finance, at tel +354 545 9200, and from Björgvin Sighvatsson at Government Debt Management, at tel +354 569 9633.