Finland faces recession
The Bank of Finland predicts that Finland is facing a sustained recession lasting about a year and a half, newspaper Helsingin Sanomat reports.
In 2009, the Finnish economy is expected to shrink by 0,5 percent, the bank predicts. The state affairs will improve after mid-2010, but then only slowly. “In mid-2010 the economy will begin to recover slowly, but growth for the whole year will be just 0.7 per cent”, the bank forecast reads. The decline is in sharp contrast with the 2005-2007 period, when the Finnish economy grew an average four percent a year, Helsingin Sanomat writes. Also the neighbouring Nordic countries face hard times. As BarentsObserver reported recently a new OECD report states that Sweden might be among the countries with the biggest decline in economic growth. Also Norway is facing major economic hardship.
