Iceland: Stories of People Hoarding Food; Government Approaches Russian Loan-Sharks

From Dynamics of Cats:

No money, no Cheerios

head of major supermarket in Iceland encourages people to hoard food and to stop buying foreign products
no currency for food imports

this is a cultural catastrophe, no more cheerios for breakfast, the kids will have to eat skyr

CEO of Bonus, a major Icelandic grocery market says their foreign wholesalers are refusing lines of credit through Icelandic banks and demanding cash payment before supplying further goods. The store has been refused foreign currency.
This was 4 pm friday afternoon.

He encourages people to hoard food and to start buying locally produced goods only.

I guess the rumours I was hearing from my relatives have some truth to them.
Oil will run out next...

From Popmatters:

...In Iceland, they may already be facing this question. Felix Salmon quotes an email to Tom Braithwaite: “The main supermarket can’t get imported goods because they have no currency. The shops are half empty. One of the store managers has advised people to start hoarding. We’re running out of oil. And winter came last night - about a month early.” Kevin Drum linked to this Guardian article, which notes that “people were buying up supplies of olive oil and pasta after a supermarket spokesman announced on Friday night that they had no means of paying the foreign currency advances needed to import more foodstuffs.”...

From the Telegraph:...

"People are definitely worried," he says. "They are panic-buying food to store away, but that is the extreme. I do have faith in the government that they will sort it out, but we do want clear answers on Monday....

From Bloomberg this morning:

Iceland Seeks Loan From Russia, Pegs Krona, Takes Over Bank

Iceland sought a 4 billion-euro ($5.43 billion) loan from Russia, pegged the slumping krona to a basket of currencies and took control of its second-biggest bank to stem a collapse of the financial system.

Central bank Governor David Oddsson said an announcement earlier today in Reykjavik that the Russian loan had been agreed was incorrect and talks were ``ongoing.'' Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin confirmed that ``we have a request from the Icelandic government'' and said Russia's reaction is ``positive.''...MORE