Finland: Economic activity growth slows to 11-month low in December
Economic activity grew a working-day adjusted 0.5% in December from the same month a year earlier, down from November’s revised 1.6% reading (previously reported: +2.3% year-on-year), according to Statistics Finland’s latest monthly Trend Indicator of Output release.
The deceleration in December, which marked the slowest rate of expansion since January 2019, came on the back of a contraction in the primary sector—encapsulating agriculture, forestry and fishing sub-sectors—which had posted mild growth in the previous month. Furthermore, activity in both the secondary sector, which includes manufacturing and construction, and the services sectors grew at a more moderate pace than in November.
A month-on-month comparison showed that economic activity on a seasonally-adjusted basis shrank 0.4% in December, having remained unchanged in November (previously reported: +0.3% yoy). Meanwhile, average annual growth in economic activity was unchanged in December at the previous month’s 1.5%.