Metropolitan.fi
News from Finland in English
While the Finnish Economy continues to struggle finding growth, the financial engine of Sweden keeps on ticking at a good pace. The economy of this neighbouring Nordic wellfare state, just across the Baltic Sea, has grown for multiple consecutive quarters. During the same time the Finnish equivalent has been shrinking or stagnating.
The weather has not been the only thing worse than expected this summer, as 2015 looks to be the fourth consecutive year that the Finnish economy has faltered. Elsewhere in the Euro area, except for Greece, economic activity is already picking up. The World Economic Forum reports on the details.
The quality of higher education and training is a crucial determinant of a country’s competitiveness and its capacity for economic growth. Manufacturing and some low productivity jobs are being shifted to countries where labour costs are lower.
Recently a group of finnish experts painted a dark picture of the Finnish housing market and a looming crash in prices. Now statistician Pekka Vuori is debunks the claim of 30 000 vacant apartments in the Greater Helsinki Metropolitan Area are false, and that the risk of a crash in prime locations is minimal.
Finnvera, a credit agency owned by the State of Finland, has agreed to guarantee a loan of some 150 Million Euros for the Russian teleoperator Megafon. The lender is the Italian bank UniCredit. The agency agreed to guarantee loans for purchase of telecomms equipment from the Finnish company Nokia. It has done so before in 2008, 2011 and 2014.
Owning a house or an apartment in Finland is a risky investment, conculuded experts in the Suomi Areena panel discussion in Pori on Tuesday July 14th 2015. 68 percent of Finns live in own apartments and over 70 percent of the Finnish assets are tied in real estate.