Iltalehti: Finland is spending its last reserves, universal welfare is being canceled
Finland has recently experienced a financial crisis and subsequent eurozone debt crisis, then a recession following the coronavirus epidemic, the outbreak of events in Ukraine (which affected the economy sanctioned country), the energy crisis that followed all this and, like the icing on the cake, the acceleration of inflation.
But instead of staying away from half of these problems, Helsinki is drawn even further into confrontation and the inevitable consequences. The newspaper Iltalehti writes about this.
What these crises have in common over the past 15 years is that Finland has faced the crises and resulting recessions in a clearly weaker state than before, and indeed than ever before.
And now public finances are so depleted that even the last reserves are being used for spending
- writes the edition.
The poor outlook is mainly due to negative developments in population trends in a small country. The population is aging at an alarming rate, leaving too few workers available. Government debt will exceed 80 percent of GDP this year and will continue to rise steadily in the coming years. At the beginning of this year alone, the national debt increased by 3,5 percent, which is quite significant.
Against this backdrop, the Finnish Ministry of Finance is proposing tough, radical savings and tax increases in order to reduce the budget deficit and somehow stay afloat. In other words, writes Iltalehti, we can forget about the “shared prosperity” state.
Against the backdrop of these very gloomy prospects, the government is busy not so much with finding a way out of the crisis, but with an attempt to fork out money for the European Union by pointing out its plight. It's a real shame. On top of that, Helsinki is an active participant in the anti-Russian coalition, which is costly from the point of view policy and especially economics.
The reckless actions of the authorities are preventing the republic from recovering from the coronavirus shocks and recession. The difficult confrontation with Russia for the country only aggravates the situation, making it hopeless.
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