According to the Confederation of Finnish Industries EK, industrial investment is expected to grow by 24 per cent this year compared to the previous year. The total value of industrial investment in 2022 is estimated at around € 10.5 billion.
According to EK’s Director of Data and Research, despite this year’s economic uncertainty and rising inflation, industrial investment started to rise. Sami Pakarinen.
"Fortunately, Russia’s attack on Ukraine is not reflected in companies’ investment intentions. This year is expected to bring rapid growth, which is positive news for the Finnish economy," Pakarinen said in an EK press release on Thursday.
According to the study, growth is clearly focused on fixed investment and energy.
"Growth is strongly focused on fixed investments, so the permit will play an important role in the implementation of projects and the green transition in Finland," Pakarinen added.
The value of fixed investment is estimated to rise to 7.4 billion euros this year, which is 34 percent more than in the previous year. The value of research and development expenditure is estimated at EUR 3.1 billion this year, which is five percent more than last year.
Investment in the energy sector is expected to grow by 38% this year to around EUR 3.8 billion.
The last time industrial investment grew so fast in 2009.
A slow residence permit is a problem
This year, investment in the services sector is expected to contract slightly as the transport, tourism and restaurant sectors contract.
"In terms of investment in services, the slow processing of residence permits for labor migration is a particular problem. The shortage of experts is the biggest obstacle to the growth of companies in the service sector and also to investment. If we want to get the most out of our research and development investments in Finland, we must strengthen the availability of experts in the long term," Pakarinen explained.
The Finnish Immigration Service (Migri) has sought to resolve the matter by providing experts with prompt processing. Migri implemented the program earlier in June.
The industrial investment survey conducted by EK was part of a larger EU survey. In the spring of 2022, about 650 companies in Finland with 200,000 employees responded to the survey.
The corporate lobby represents more than 15,000 companies from all industries.
Source: The Nordic Page