Finland is shuttering factories that make up the backbone of its export industry faster than it’s investing in new companies.............The strains on the economy are driving public debt higher, and Finland estimates it will breach the European Union’s 60 percent limit of gross domestic product for the first time this year............Finnish industrial investments have been outpaced by depreciations since 2008, according to data by Statistics Finland. The economy, which shrank 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter, has contracted for three years of the past five years and unemployment jumped to 8.5 percent in January from 7.9 percent at the end of last year. Investments will drop 4.4 percent this year, the Confederation of Finnish Industries forecast last month. Industrial production fell an annual 7.5 percent in January, the 15th consecutive month of contraction, the nation’s statistics office said on March 10........Finland faces a similar loss of competitiveness to that seen in Italy and France, European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn said in an interview with newspaper Kauppalehti today.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Mar 2014 07:26:04 +0000
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