Finland: Fall in economic activity softens in January
Economic activity decreased 3.7% year-on-year in working-day adjusted terms in January, easing from December’s 4.0% drop.
January’s softer fall was mostly driven by a rebound in both the primary—which includes agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing subsectors—and secondary sectors over the previous month. That said, the bounce back was weighed down by the services sector, which contracted at a quicker pace in January, largely as a result of restrictions being maintained in order to curb another wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
On a seasonally-adjusted monthly basis, economic activity rose 1.0% in January, rebounding from the 1.6% fall recorded in December. Meanwhile, the trend pointed downwards, with the annual average variation of economic activity coming in at minus 3.1% in January, down from December’s minus 2.7%.