Economy - overview Finland has a highly industrialized, largely free-market economy, with per capita output roughly that of the UK, France, Germany, and Italy. Its key economic sector is manufacturing - principally the wood, metals, and engineering industries. Trade is important, with the export of goods representing about 30% of GDP. Except for timber and several minerals, Finland depends on imports of raw materials, energy, and some components for manufactured goods. Because of the climate, agricultural development is limited to maintaining self-sufficiency in basic products. Forestry, an important export earner, provides a secondary occupation for the rural population. The economy has come back from the recession of 1990-92, which had been caused by economic overheating, depressed foreign markets, and the dismantling of the barter system between Finland and the former Soviet Union under which Soviet oil and gas had been exchanged for Finnish manufactured goods. The Finns voted in an October 1994 referendum to enter the EU, and Finland officially joined the Union on 1 January 1995. Attempts to cut the unacceptably high rate of unemployment and increasing integration with Western Europe will dominate the economic picture over the next few years. Despite high unemployment and moderate GDP growth of 3.9% anticipated for 1998, inflation is forecast to rise to 2.5%

GDP purchasing power parity - $102.1 billion (1997 est.)

GDP - real growth rate 4.6% (1997 est.)

GDP - per capita purchasing power parity - $20,000 (1997 est.)

GDP - composition by sector
agriculture: 7%
industry: 37%
services: 56% (1995)

Inflation rate - consumer price index 1.2% (1997 est.)

Labor force
total: 2.533 million
by occupation: public services 30.4%, industry 20.9%, commerce 15.0%, finance, insurance, and business services 10.2%, agriculture and forestry 8.6%, transport and communications 7.7%, construction 7.2%

Unemployment rate 14.6% (1997 est.)

Budget
revenues: $33 billion
expenditures: $40 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1996 est.)

Industries metal products, shipbuilding, pulp and paper, copper refining, foodstuffs, chemicals, textiles, clothing

Industrial production growth rate 7.4% (1995)

Electricity - capacity 14.143 million kW (1995)

Electricity - production 58.626 billion kWh (1995)

Electricity - consumption per capita 13,181 kWh (1995)

Agriculture - products cereals, sugar beets, potatoes; dairy cattle; annual fish catch about 160,000 metric tons

Exports
total value: $38.4 billion (f.o.b., 1996)
commodities: paper and pulp, machinery, chemicals, metals, timber
partners: EU 46.5% (Germany 13.4%, UK 10.4%), Sweden 10.1%, US 6.7%, Japan 2.6%, Russia 4.8% (1995)

Imports
total value: $29.3 billion (c.i.f., 1996)
commodities: foodstuffs, petroleum and petroleum products, chemicals, transport equipment, iron and steel, machinery, textile yarn and fabrics, fodder grains
partners: EU 44% (Germany 16.6%, UK 8.0%), Sweden 11.7%, US 7.1%, Russia 7.1%, Japan 6.3% (1995)

Debt - external $30 billion (December 1993)

Economic aid
donor: ODA, $355 million (1993)

Currency 1 markka (FMk) or Finmark = 100 pennia

Exchange rates markkaa (FMk) per US$1 - 5.4948 (January 19987), 5.1914 (1997), 4.5936 (1996), 4.3667 (1995), 5.2235 (1994), 5.7123 (1993)

Fiscal year calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Finland on this page is re-published from the 1998 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Finland Economy 1998 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Finland Economy 1998 should be addressed to the CIA.