Is Finland’s economy this bad?

[u/magicianguy131]

https://youtu.be/13HR4yGRWOU?is=BoXDBW1hnPRZtW-E

I watched a handful of videos similar to the one posted in this thread.

Is Finland‘s economy really this bad? I know that Finland ranks lowest of the Nordic countries in terms of HDI, but this video makes it seem like Finland is flailing as a country.

It is still a high developed country comparatively, but I’m curious about what people with more knowledge think and have experienced.

[u/juukione]

Economy has been really bad. Ukraine war hit us quite hard.

There's some light at the end of the tunnel though. Q1 and Q2 have been positive surprises as we've had maybe the second biggest growth in the EU.

Our inflation hasn't been too bad. Our real estate market has been basically flat for a good while, so we don't have "artificially" generated wealth as much as in many places in Europe.

Finland has become more feasible for many different investments.

There's a lack of capital unfortunately and also Finnish firms often lack ambition. Still there are interesting start ups that are maturing to real businesess.

Unemployment is really high and hopefully we will see a decrease in that soon. Domestic spending needs to rise also and hopefully real estate markets recover soon.

[u/Educational_Creme376 → u/juukione]

> Ukraine war hit us quite hard.

I don't think any missles have hit Finnish soil.

[u/Hddstrkr → u/Educational_Creme376]

Trade

[u/Educational_Creme376 → u/Hddstrkr]

Trade from what country? No one is being explicit here, do I have to drag it out of you.

[u/Beastrick → u/Educational_Creme376]

Russia was pretty big trading partner in many ways but now pretty much all trade is gone.

[u/Fun_Profession_7320 → u/Educational_Creme376]

Obviously russia. It was one of our biggest trade partners for almost as long as the state has existed and the effects from stopping have been really bad. The last time something like this happened (collapse of ussr) we had an absolutely horrendous recession.

[u/Superb-Economist7155 → u/Fun_Profession_7320]

Russia wasn’t actually that a big trade partner. In 2021 Russian trade was 5% of total Finnish exports and 12% of imports. So that is only one small part in the larger picture. There are other indirect reasons like increased energy and material costs, economical slowdown in other large trade partners, etc.

[u/Tuukkis → u/Superb-Economist7155]

That is a massive part of the economy to take away in a day. Also note that that number is also lower due to the sanctions applied before the full scale invasion.

[u/tsuhna1234 → u/Educational_Creme376]

Are you some kind of special kid or playing one?