HELSINKI: Finnish economic outlooks are gloomy and the business growth is expected to be slow in the coming months, said the Confederation of Finnish Industries in the report of its latest Business Tendency Survey released in Rovaniemi on Wednesday.
The outlook indicators for Finnish businesses for the next six months are polarised, said the report presented in a press conference at the BRP Finland Oy office in Rovaniemi. The report said service and construction companies forecast a moderate improvement but, on the other hand, manufacturing companies expect the current weak business cycle to continue for the rest of the year.
The survey found that the outlook of the manufacturing companies has not undergone any recovery in the first half of the year and the current situation is worse than average. The output of the sector grew very slightly in early summer and is expected to decline slightly in the third quarter, while there is a cautious hope of growth in the final quarter. About the service sector, the report said the business cycle has improved somewhat but is still below its average.
A slight improvement is forecast for the second half of the year and sales are expected to increase at a moderately brisk rate. What is more, a further small sales acceleration is expected to take place towards the end of the year. In construction, the cycle has improved as was expected from the previous survey results. The current situation is described as stronger than average and continued improvement is expected in the second half.
Economist Juha Vartia presented the survey results. BRP Finland Oy Managing Director Jukka Jokinen and Lapland Hotels Oy Managing Director Ari Vuorentausta spoke on the occasion on behalf of the business industry, while Taija Jurmu from the Lapland Chamber of Commerce delivering the opening speech. Vartia said the growth in the construction sector is slow and the industries are in a weak situation. The commodity side is going down and exports too have slowed down. Against this context, the situation is challenging, although the service sector is performing well. So, in general the economic growth is expected to be slow in the coming months.
Northern Finland including Lapland is showing a higher growth rate in service and other sectors, the economist added. Taija Jurmu said the time is challenging but the indicators for the upcoming days are promising. Industries are showing positive trends, especially the service sector, tourism is expanding in Lapland and new investments are in the pipeline.
Jukka Jokinen was more optimistic about the future growth of industries. He said after the world economic crisis, businesses are recovering now and the growth is satisfactory. In his opinion, BREXIT and other challenges of the international market will not have any significant impact on the business growth. Ari Vuorentausta said the tourism sector is looking forward to a vibrant season, when we expect a 10 per cent growth. Increasing flights and new routes will bring more visitors, especially from December to February. Vuorentausta too doesn’t see any major problem in the tourism business stemming from BREXIT.
