HELSINKI: Finland experienced its first year of noteworthy economic growth since 2011, despite the continuing struggles of export-oriented industries.
Statistics Finland unveiled its preliminary data on last year’s economic growth on Wednesday, reporting that Finland’s gross domestic product grew by 1.6 per cent year-on-year in 2016. In 2011, by contrast, the country’s gross domestic product grew by 2.9 per cent from the previous year.
Last year’s growth was driven largely by what may be obvious to many residents of the capital region and other large urban areas: the construction of residential buildings and shopping centers has been on a marked up-tick in areas growing as a result of migration from the countryside and abroad.
Investments, especially in housing construction, gave the national economy a 1.1 per cent boost in 2016, said Samu Hakala, a senior statistician at Statistics Finland. Private consumption, he added, provided a comparable boost to the economy following an increase in the sum of wages and salaries.
Business services, such as accounting and consulting services similarly grew substantially, heralding an increase in business activities.
The recovery of traditional export activities, on the other hand, continued to stall, according to the preliminary data.
The value generated by the chemical, forest and metals industry increased – by 5.0, 5.7 and 2.0 per cent, respectively – while that generated by the electrical and electronics industry decreased by 9.3 per cent year-on-year in 2016. Statistics Finland was on Wednesday not prepared to attribute the decline in the value generated by the electrical and electronics industry to any particular development.
