Iceland is lifting capital controls

The government of Iceland announced Sunday that it is lifting capital controls that have been in place for nearly a decade following the 2008 financial crisis.

The move was announced by Iceland’s government on Sunday at a press conference, reports Iceland Monitor.

The changes take effect Tuesday.

The removal of controls is accompanied by news that the Central Bank of Iceland has reached a deal to purchase some 90 billion Icelandic krona (about $836 million) held by offshore owners, the Iceland Monitor reports.

The capital controls, which restricted the flow of money into and out of Iceland, were put in place after the nation’s three largest banks collapsed, as a measure to forestall further economic disaster.

The end of the controls eases restrictions on businesses, individuals and pension funds and “represents the completion of Iceland’s return to international financial markets,” the government said.

Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson told Bloomberg in an interview following the press conference that dropping some of restrictions “will make direct foreign investment easier.”

Iceland has seen a strong recovery since the 2008 crisis, with a tourism boom leading the way to 7.2 percent growth in 2016, according to the BBC.