Economic gap with other Nordic countries worries Vanhanen

Finance Minister Matti Vanhanen on Monday expressed his concerns over the country rate of economic growth, which is lagging behind the level of gross domestic product (GDP) in the rest of the Nordic countries, reported Xinhua.

"We must ask as a nation whether we want to be a Nordic country or will we accept a declining living standard," Vanhanen said in a ministry report.

Vanhanen said the target should be to raise the level of economic growth from the roughly one percent per year in Finland to the two percent level seen in the other Nordic countries.

However, Vanhanen said the cost caused by the COVID-19 pandemic last year in Finland was less than expected. The state budget deficit for 2020 amounted to 15 billion euros, lower than the 20 billion euros previously predicted.

The report said the 1990s' surf wave of the Finnish technology industries no longer carries the country, citing low productivity as one of the reasons, and it takes more input than earlier to create the same amount of innovations and productivity increase.

As one of the remedies, the report suggested increasing the arrival of qualified immigrants. It said immigrants with a refugee background face challenges in employment, although they can be supported with policy measures.