ICELAND：Dancing on the brink of Bankruptcy（1）

       The days grow ever darker in Reykjavik.Gone is the almost eternal daylight,which washes across Iceland’s captital in the height of summer.A darkening gloom arrives earlier each day now..An icy wind blows in from the east.Darkness will be a constant presence here soon as winter sets in.

       If ever a nation’s changing climate reflected the mood of its people,it is here.Every morning,it seems,the residents awake to news of fresh problems in their country’s banking system.Last week,the country’s third largest bank was nationalized.This week,the government dismissed the board of directors of Landsbanki,its second-largest bank,and put it into receivership.Later,the Prime Minister warned its citizens the country faces bankruptcy.

       Iceland is rated by the UN as the most developed society on earth.But it now faces less welcome distinction as the country worst exposed to the credit crunch .

       Laugavegur,the capital’s chic main stretch,is quiet.At one of the main branches of Landsbanki,executives could be seen yesterday pacing the upper floors,mobile phones held to their ears,hands on foreheads.Galleries,antiques stores and jewellery boutiques,which sprang up in the boom days of the past decade,were empty. Some are closed altogether. It is not a day to be in business in Iceland.

       The few Icelanders who are out and about gather in tight groups,,shielding themselves from the wind and discuss the latest disasters to strike its banks.The credit cruch is the only topic in town.Many head to their banks,where a steady stream of concerned savers enters to inquire just how safe their money is. This bleak picture of shattered consumer confidence does not seem out of place in a nation famed for its Viking saga.It now has a new epic tale to tell: how its banks have brought a whole nation to the brink of bankruptcy.