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Flat White

Could Japanese interest rates trigger a global financial crisis?

Ask Iceland.

13 July 2023

5:30 AM

13 July 2023

5:30 AM

In 2003, Iceland, a country with fewer people than the Sunshine Coast, strove to become a global banking hub. Within five years, Icelandic banks had expanded their assets (loans) 10-fold to 900 per cent of GDP, as fishermen and smelter workers who had turned into investment bankers gave compatriots foreign-currency loans to invest in property and stocks.

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