Finnish government releases huge stimulus package

Finland-coat of armsFinland’s government has agreed on a stimulus package worth around 2 billion euros, an amount that represents 1.7 per cent of the nation’s GDP. As Finland teeters on the edge of recession, it is hoped this injection of funding into the economy will prevent a return to the staggeringly high unemployment figures in the 1990s, when 20 per cent of Finns were out of work.

China’s news agency Xinhua writes that a statement released by the Finnish government says: “The package will generate at least 25,000 man-years in employment. Overall GDP this year and next year combined will grow by approximately one percent. The fiscal stimulus impact, 1.7 percent of GDP, or 2 billion euros, brought about by the decisions concerning the budget and supplementary budget of 2009, will also rank the third largest in the EU Commission’s comparison among the 27 member states.”

Finland is now the second Nordic country after Norway to announce a massive stimulus package, and Sweden is reportedly also considering a similar move as all these countries are increasingly concerned over big drops in their industrial exports. Peter Nyberg, director-general of the Finnish Ministry of Finance, stated “we are taking precautionary measures, making sure that the impact of the global slowdown is less severe than it otherwise would be.”

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