Finland has a very sound financial system. Finland is at the forefront of electronic banking and financial sector consolidation. Arrangements for crisis prevention and management need to balance the conflicting goals of minimizing moral hazard and providing adequate safety nets in the financial...

This study examines the banking crises in Finland, Norway and Sweden, which took place in the early 1990s, and draws some policy conclusions from their experiences. One key conclusion is that factors in addition to business cycle effects explain the Nordic countries' financial problems. Although...

This Selected Issues paper on Finland discusses that the country is struggling to recover from the Great Recession, indicating that deeper, structural issues may be holding back growth. Estimates of potential output for Finland are an important part of the toolkit for policymakers-but they come...

This 2014 Article IV Consultation highlights that Finland’s strong economic record has stalled. The economy has been in recession for three of the last five years, and unemployment is now more than 8 percent, with more people without work for longer. The shortfall in growth, coming at a time...

An equilibrium exchange rate is here defined as the level that is consistent with simultaneous internal and external balances as specified in Montiel (1996). Exogenous “fundamental” variables determining these balances are identified. Along the lines of Edwards (1994), a reduced form is...

Finland has recovered from the depression of the early 1990s, and is engaged in a new phase of economic expansion. Problems remain on the structural front and should be tackled for robust long-term growth. The restraint on the growth of public expenditures should be complemented by a significant...

Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden form a tightly integrated region which has strong ties with the euro area as well as some exposure to Russia. Using the IMF’s Global Integrated Monetary and Fiscal model (GIMF), we examine spillovers the region could face, focusing on possible scenarios...

This paper is one in a series of follow-up papers on The Fund's Mandate-An Overview and The Fund's Mandate-The Legal Framework discussed by the Executive Board on February 22, 2010. This paper proposes ideas to modernize the mandate and modalities of surveillance. It addresses how the Fund might...

The output gap-which measures the deviation of actual output from its potential-is frequently used as an indicator of slack in an economy. This paper estimates the Finnish output gap using various empirical methods. It evaluates these methods against economic history and each other by a...

Finland's performance has been impressive. In light of rapid population aging, a significant and durable increase in the employment rate is vital. To leave room for needed tax cuts on labor while maintaining sufficiently large fiscal surpluses is crucial. With both growth and inflation set to...