Economy continues to shrink due to COVID-19

Finland's economic output continued to decline in May with the gross domestic product (GDP) falling 5.5 percent and industrial turnover dropping 8.9 percent year-on-year mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Statistics Finland said in a press release on Wednesday.

The national economy's seasonally-adjusted output was 0.7 percent lower than one month earlier, said the Xinhua report.

However, compared to April 2020, the seasonally-adjusted turnover in the industry grew by 0.1 percent. Turnover decreased the most in the chemical (31.4 percent) and forest industries (15.6 percent) from April 2019.

Year-on-year decreases were also registered in the textile, clothing and leather industry (15.0 percent); in electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply (11.6 percent); and in the food industry (4.2 percent).

Year-on-year growth was the strongest in mining and quarrying (35.5 percent) and in the electronics and electrical industry (30.3 percent).

Export turnover decreased in all the country's main industries in April 2020, said Statistics Finland.

The year-on-year decrease registered in April was most marked in the chemical industry (19.3 percent); the textile, clothing and leather industry (18.7 percent); and the forest industry (18.2 percent).

Of the main industries, domestic turnover fell the most year-on-year in April in the chemical industry (26.7 percent); the textile, clothing and leather industry (12.5 percent); and the food industry (12.4 percent).

Domestic turnover rose only in mining and quarrying by 6.9 percent year-on-year.

The calculation of the indices is based on the Finnish Tax Administration's self-assessed tax data, which are supplemented with data obtained by Statistics Finland's sales inquiry.