The following lists events that happened in
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
in
Iceland.
Incumbents
*President –
Ólafur Ragnar GrÃmsson
*Prime Minister –
Geir Haarde
Events
May
* May 29 -
A strong earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale strikes Iceland near the town of Selfoss.
September
* September 29 - The government of Iceland takes control of the country's number three bank, the struggling
Glitnir Bank.
October
* October 7 -
Subprime mortgage crisis
The United States subprime mortgage crisis was a multinational financial crisis that occurred between 2007 and 2010 that contributed to the Financial crisis of 2007–2008, 2007–2008 global financial crisis. It was triggered by a large decline ...
**
Russia agrees to provide Iceland with emergency loans of 4 billion euros ($5.4 billion).
** Iceland's Financial Supervisory Authority takes control of troubled Landsbanki Bank.
* October 9 - Kaupthing Bank, Iceland's largest bank, is nationalized by the country's Financial Supervisory Authority.
* October 21 - Iceland's
Kaupthing Bank fails to pay interest to its 50-billion-yen (US$493 million) bondholders in
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
.
* October 29 -
Danish-based low-cost carrier Sterling Airlines files for bankruptcy and stops all passenger flights after its cash-strapped Icelandic investors were unable keep the company afloat.
November
* November 19 - The International Monetary Fund approves a US$2.1 billion rescue package for Iceland following its financial crisis.
{{Year in Europe, 2008
2000s in Iceland
Iceland
Iceland
Years of the 21st century in Iceland