HELSINKI: The Finnish economy flatlined last year and is expected to grow slightly in 2016 as it struggles to recover from a string of problems including the decline of Nokia’s phone business and a recession in neighboring Russia.
The current account in December had a deficit of 0.2 billion euros ($0.2 billion), putting the full-year surplus at 0.2 billion euros. In 2014, the full-year deficit was about 1.9 billion euros.
“(The surplus) mainly comes from the low oil price and the decline of the value of imports… But it is nevertheless a surplus, and these balance figures are of interest for example to the credit rating agencies,” said economist Timo Hirvonen from OP Financial Group.
This year, the EU Commission expects Finnish gross domestic product to grow 0.5 percent, the weakest forecast in the European Union after Greece, and some analysts expect it to lose its triple-A credit rating soon.