Icelandic Reuters/Bloomberg correspondent, Omar Valdimarsson, had a story published today which highlighted some of the differences between Iceland and Greece.

Here are some of the interesting stats from the story:

+ Credit default swaps on five-year debt issued by Iceland narrowed to 376.4 basis points on April 30, compared with 817.5 a year earlier, according to Bloomberg data.

+ That compares with an April 30 CDS of 718.5 basis points for Greek debt versus 156.2 on the same contract one year ago.

+ Iceland’s gross debt will be equivalent to about 160 percent of economic output next year, before declining “quickly.” That compares with Greece’s 115 percent debt of gross domestic product last year.

+The Greek economy will contract 4 percent this year and a further 2.6 percent in 2011 before it returns to growth in 2012, the government estimates.

+ Iceland’s economy shrank 6.5 percent last year and will contract a further 3.4 percent in 2010, before returning to growth in 2011 the central bank estimates.

“Oh my God, I wouldn’t want to be in the position they’re in… The position Greece is in is quite different from the position Iceland is or was in; Greece has the euro and we can debate whether or not that’s good for them for the time being.” – Icelandic Finance Minister Steingrimur Sigfusson

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