Recession possible in Finland: Official

December 16th, 2011 - 2:01 pm ICT by IANS  

Helsinki, Dec 16 (IANS) Finland’s central bank governor warned Thursday Finland could slip back into recession next year.

The country’s economic situation deteriorated significantly due to the eurozone sovereign debt crisis, governor of the Bank of Finland Erkki Liikanen said in an interview with the Finnish Broadcasting Company.

The bank Thursday lowered its forecast for the country’s economic growth in 2012 to 0.4 percent from the earlier prediction of 2.6 percent. It also slashed its growth forecast for 2013 to 1.8 percent from 2.4 percent, reported Xinhua.

This latest forecast was based on the current situation and may have to be revised further downward if problems in the eurozone take a turn for the worse, said Liikanen, who is also a member of the governing council of the European Central Bank.

In that case, the country’s exports could drop by 6 percent and would send the Finnish national economy several percentage points into the red, he said.

The central bank urged the Finnish government to substantially cut public spending, as consumption and investments were expected to fall below previous estimates.

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