Hilmar V. Petursson, the chairman of computer game company CCP sums up the dilemma facing Icelandic businesses under the current conditions of currency restrictions and lack of vision by the political parties.
“It is hard to make decisions and plan ahead for the future based on what is possibly going to happen here in the future. The government’s plan seems to be EU membership and moving towards the Euro in a couple of years. I like that plan”.
CCP is a roughly ten year old company whose product Eve Online has been extremely successful in the online gaming sector. In an interview with Frettabladid, Hilmar says that the currency restrictions are the company’s toughest test yet. “It is terrible, especially for a company doing international business from Iceland. It is outrageous. I am sometimes amazed that we bother with this at all. We can tolerate the restrictions for a while but they have complicated all our operations.”
Yet again the need for the Independence Party, Centre Party and the Left Greens to reveal their vision for an Icelandic future is apparent. Hilmar’s situation reminds me why this spring I took part in setting up a start-up away from Iceland:
1. Currency restrictions and worthless ISK.
The business operates online and sales are in Euros and US Dollars. With currency restrictions in place it makes no sense to form a company in Iceland.
We want to operate within a financial system that works.
2. Lack of trust and credibility
We would like to trust the institutions that impact our business indirectly and we have to deal with directly, such as banks, accountants, lawyers, government, official institutions etc. Our trust in those institutions in Iceland is low.
We don‘t have friends in high places to do us favors. Our company and ourselves have to earn our status, whatever it will be. That sounds good to us.
3. Higher taxes
In the country we decided to incorporate we have to pay higher taxes. Instead the business framework seems healthy and our business‘ well-being seems to go hand in hand with the well-being of the society where it is based.
We like that idea.
4. Uncertainty and Future Prospects
As someone who makes a lot of sense remarked recently, “Iceland is not the land of the future“ . The past and present governments have laid the foundation for lives in unessecary poverty for our generation and the next. The political and economic outlook for the next decade are uncertain at best.
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July 7th, 2010 → 11:21 am @ Dadi
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