Finland's economy had hit the bottom and started to grow slowly, according to an economic review released by the Finnish Finance Ministry on Friday.
The export-oriented Finnish economy has declined sharply during the end of 2008 and the first half of this year, as the world economy slumped due to the global financial crisis. According to the review, Finland's gross domestic product will thus shrink by 7.6 percent in 2009.
However, the Finnish Finance Ministry said that the country's economy had already hit the bottom and began to grow slowly as the GDP in the third quarter of 2009 increased by 0.3 percent compared with the previous quarter, thanks to the growth of public investment and private consumption. The GDP in the final quarter of 2009 is expected to rise by 0.5 percent over the same period of last year.
The Finance Ministry predicts that Finland's GDP will grow by 0.7 percent next year and 2.4 percent in 2011.
Despite improvement in the economy, Finland's unemployment is expected to rise next year. The number of people listed as unemployed is growing by 50,000 this year, pushing the unemployment rate to 8.5 percent, which is estimated to further rise to 10.5 percent next year.
According to the Finance Ministry, the deepest part of the ongoing worldwide recession has passed, and economic activity is recovering. The world could see a 3-percent growth in the next two years./.