Finland's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in April-June this year was 7.4 percent higher than in the corresponding period one year ago, Statistics Finland reported on Tuesday. The seasonally adjusted GDP in the second quarter (Q2) is estimated to have grown by around 2.0 percent from the previous quarter, while the statistics agency estimates that the number of employed people in Q2 increased by around 3.9 percent year-on-year. Timo Hirvonen, chief economist at Handelsbanken in Finland, told business daily Kauppalehti that the Finnish economy was growing on a general basis, adding that prospects for Q3 were also good. Statistics Finland also reported that Finnish industrial output in June went up by 9.7 percent year-on-year. Also in June, seasonally adjusted industrial output grew by 0.8 percent from the month before.
Meanwhile, the OP Financial Group, one of the largest financial companies in Finland, on Tuesday raised its 2021 growth prognosis for the country from 3.3 percent to 3.6 percent. However, OP said that the growth will be temporary, and in 2022 it will be 3.0 percent, and only 1.4 percent in 2023. OP said that the growth rate in Finland is slower than in the European Union (EU) in general, but the Finnish economy has been less seriously affected by the COVID-19 pandemic than the average. OP's chief economist Reijo Heiskanen attributed the Finnish recovery mainly to consumer demand, whereas exports and investments have suffered from production bottlenecks.