Finland Economy
Economy - overviewFinland 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, engineering, telecommunications, and electronics industries. Trade is important, with exports equaling one-third 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. Rapidly increasing integration with Western Europe - Finland was one of the 12 countries joining the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) - will dominate the economic picture over the next several years. Growth in 2003 was held back by the global slowdown but will pick up in 2004 provided the world economy suffers no further blows.
GDP
purchasing power parity - $142.2 billion (2003 est.)
GDP - real growth rate
1.9% (2003 est.)
GDP - per capita
purchasing power parity - $27,400 (2003 est.)
GDP - composition by sector
agriculture: 4.3%
industry: 32.7%
services: 62.9% (2003 est.)
Investment
18% of GDP (2003)
Population below poverty line
NA
Household income or consumption by percentage share
lowest 10%: 4.2%
highest 10%: 21.6% (1991)
Distribution of family income - Gini index
25.6 (1991)
Inflation rate
0.9% (2003 est.)
Labor force
2.599 million (2003 est.)
Labor force - by occupation
agriculture and forestry 8%, industry 22%, construction 6%, commerce 14%, finance, insurance, and business services 10%, transport and communications 8%, public services 32%
Unemployment rate
9% (2003 est.)
Budget
revenues: $87.03 billion
expenditures: $81.62 billion, including capital expenditures of NA (2003 est.)
Public debt
48.7% of GDP (2003)
Agriculture - products
barley, wheat, sugar beets, potatoes; dairy cattle; fish
Industries
metal products, electronics, shipbuilding, pulp and paper, copper refining, foodstuffs, chemicals, textiles, clothing
Industrial production growth rate
0.8% (2003 est.)
Electricity - production
71.2 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - consumption
76.18 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - exports
1.81 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - imports
11.77 billion kWh (2001)
Oil - production
0 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - consumption
211,400 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - exports
101,000 bbl/day (2001)
Oil - imports
318,300 bbl/day (2001)
Natural gas - production
0 cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - consumption
4.557 billion cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - exports
0 cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - imports
4.567 billion cu m (2001 est.)
Current account balance
$10.3 billion (2003)
Exports
$54.28 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)
Exports - commodities
machinery and equipment, chemicals, metals; timber, paper, pulp (1999)
Exports - partners
Germany 11.8%, Sweden 9.9%, US 8.2%, UK 8%, Russia 7.5%, Netherlands 4.8% (2003)
Imports
$37.35 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)
Imports - commodities
foodstuffs, petroleum and petroleum products, chemicals, transport equipment, iron and steel, machinery, textile yarn and fabrics, grains (1999)
Imports - partners
Germany 16.2%, Sweden 14.1%, Russia 11.7%, Netherlands 6.3%, Denmark 5.7%, UK 5.3%, France 4.3% (2003)
Reserves of foreign exchange & gold
$11.17 billion (2003)
Debt - external
$30 billion (December 1993)
Currency
euro (EUR)
note: on 1 January 1999, the European Monetary Union introduced the euro as a common currency to be used by financial institutions of member countries; on 1 January 2002, the euro became the sole currency for everyday transactions within the member countries
Currency code
EUR
Exchange rates
euros per US dollar - 0.886 (2003), 1.0626 (2002), 1.1175 (2001), 1.0854 (2000), 0.9386 (1999)
