Finland: Economic activity stable in December
Latest reading: Economic activity flatlined month on month on a seasonally adjusted, working day basis in December, deteriorating from November’s 0.2% increase.
Looking at a breakdown by sector, in non-seasonally adjusted, working-day adjusted terms—seasonally adjusted data is not available—the economy had a broad-based upturn, with the primary sector—which includes the agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing subsectors—the industrial and services sectors all rebounding.
On a working-day adjusted annual basis, economic activity lost steam, rising 0.9% in December (November: +1.2% yoy). Still, the trend pointed up, with the annual average variation of economic activity coming in at minus 0.6% (November: -0.9%).
Meanwhile, preliminary estimates from Statistics Finland showed that seasonally adjusted GDP rose by 0.1% quarter on quarter in Q4, decelerating from Q3’s 0.3% increase. As a result, the economy would have expanded by 1.0% overall in 2024; still, flash figures are typically subject to large revisions and our panel sees downside risks to this first estimate.