2008 in Iceland
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The following lists events that happened in 2008 in Iceland.
Incumbents
[edit]- President – Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson
- Prime Minister – Geir Haarde
Events
[edit]May
[edit]- May 29 – A strong earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale strikes Iceland near the town of Selfoss.
September
[edit]- September 29 – The government of Iceland takes control of the country's number three bank, the struggling Glitnir Bank.
October
[edit]- October 7 – Subprime mortgage crisis
- Russia agrees to provide Iceland with emergency loans of 4 billion euros ($5.4 billion).
- Iceland's Financial Supervisory Authority takes control of troubled Landsbanki Bank.
- October 9 – Kaupthing Bank, Iceland's largest bank, is nationalized by the country's Financial Supervisory Authority.
- October 21 – Iceland's Kaupthing Bank fails to pay interest to its 50-billion-yen (US$493 million) bondholders in Japan.
- October 29 – Danish-based low-cost carrier Sterling Airlines files for bankruptcy and stops all passenger flights after its cash-strapped Icelandic investors were unable keep the company afloat.
November
[edit]- November 19 – The International Monetary Fund approves a US$2.1 billion rescue package for Iceland following its financial crisis.
Deaths
[edit]- 28 August – Sigurbjörn Einarsson, the tenth Bishop of Iceland, served in office in 1959-1981 (b. 1911)
- 9 June – Ólafur Skúlason, the twelfth Bishop of Iceland, served in office in 1989-1997 (b. 1929)[1]
References
[edit]- ^ Kjartansdóttir, Karen (2010-08-20). "Biskup: Æðri dómstólar fara yfir mál séra Ólafs - Vísir". visir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 2025-11-08.
