The tourism and restaurant industry has also suffered the most in Finland, and its value added is declining by 30 per cent from the previous year.
“Formal restrictions, as well as consumer choices, the targeting of tourism and restaurant services, have led to a completely unusual situation throughout the industry. The industry will partially recover next year if the pandemic stays under control, but a full recovery will take more time, ”commented Birgitta Berg-Andersson Etla.
The Treasury minister Matti Vanhanen (Center) said YLE on Sunday that the relatively small overall impact on the national economy is the result of a successful effort by the government and local authorities to combat the epidemic.
– Treatment of an epidemic also gives the best financial result. That’s what we’ve witnessed here, ”he said.
Although the current second wave of infections will inevitably have an impact on the economy, Vanhanen believes that the outlook will brighten immediately next year. For example, Statistics Finland has stated that GDP can grow by about three percent this year.
The Finnish government has published its seventh and final supplementary budget for the year and has decided to continue the second approved cost support program to enable companies to survive the crisis.
“We took an option in the winter framework in advance, so that if we need third-round cost support for companies, if companies report losses of this magnitude both before and after the turn of the year, we have a million-euro budget for it. It has not yet been activated,” Vanhanen told YLE.
He added that the supplementary budget also aims to anticipate the needs that will arise in the winter by securing the resources that health care providers and municipalities will need because of the crisis.
According to Vanhanen, the time for fiscal adjustment or cost savings will not come until 2022. Both Finland and Europe will continue to stimulate their economies to ensure that they continue to grow after the introduction of the antiviral vaccine.
The stimulus, he stressed, must be credible.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
Source: The Nordic Page