Economy to pick up at 2021 end: Danske Bank

Finland will return to pre-COVID-19 economic levels towards the end of this year, with growth of 2.3 percent, according to Danske Bank.

Danske Bank, one of the largest financial enterprises in the Nordic region, also forecasted on Tuesday that the Finnish economy would grow by 3 percent in 2022, reported Xinhua.

Finnish language business daily Kauppalehti noted that Danske Bank has upgraded its estimates from the previous estimation of 2.2 percent in 2021 and 2.8 percent in 2022.

"The world economy will help pull up Finnish investments and exports. Consumption and the service sector are expected to recover in the summer," Pasi Kuoppamäki, chief economist at Danske Bank, elaborated in the release.

The current turbulence caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has not changed the big picture of the economy, Mikko Spolander, the director general of the economics department at the Finnish Ministry of Finance, was quoted by business media Talouselama as saying on Tuesday.

Growth in Finland will be at a standstill this spring but will pick up during the summer and autumn, Spolander said.

The Finnish economy was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic comparatively less than some other European countries.

On Monday, the Research Institute of the Finnish Economy predicted that economic growth in 2021 would be 3 percent and fall to 2.4 percent the year after.