Statistics Finland on Thursday released a new set of preliminary data indicating that the country’s gross domestic product grew by 1.9 per cent – 0.5 percentage points more than estimated in March – to 216 billion euros in 2016.

The statistics bureau said it revised its growth estimate due to the availability of new data on intermediate goods used for production by a number of industrial sectors

Tuomas Rothovius, a senior statistician at Statistics Finland, reminds that what may seem to be a notable statistical difference is in fact nothing out of the ordinary. “The change in economic growth tends to be adjusted by 0.6 percentage points between the first publication [of data] to the last,” he explained to Helsingin Sanomat on Thursday.

Statistics Finland also reported that household consumption and private investment were the main drivers of growth in 2016.

The volume of household consumption, it revealed, increased by 1.9 per cent, that of private consumption by 1.8 per cent and that of public consumption expenditure by 1.2 per cent from the previous year.

Private investments, meanwhile, picked up by 7.9 per cent and public investments by 3.9 per cent. Investments in construction projects, and machinery and equipment acquisitions increased particularly, whereas investments in research and development dropped moderately from the previous year, according to the revised data.

Aleksi Teivainen – HT

Photo: Mikko Stig – Lehtikuva