According to a new poll conducted by Market and Media Research for the newspaper Viðskiptablaðið, the most powerful individuals in the country all work for the government – a change from the last time the poll was conducted.
At the top of the list of Iceland’s most powerful people was Minister of Finance Steingrímur J. Sigfússon. In second place, far after Steingrímur, is Jón Ásgeir Jóhannesson, best known for Baugur Group.
The poll surveyed Iceland’s 300 largest companies and of them, 40% named Steingrímur. In fact, 13 of the top 18 in the poll are all government officials.
Viðskiptablaðið says that this marks a significant change from the previous poll. Many long-time important people who’d been comfortable in the top positions have fallen further down the list; namely, private businessmen who now face either mounting debt or criminal charges.