The State Treasury has published its annual review on Finland’s central government debt management. The review summarises the funding and liquidity management operations of Finland’s central government and provides an outlook on the Finnish economy in the year 2019. The 2018 annual review focused on the environmental angle of sustainable development, this year the following ESG theme is human capital and social responsibility.
“In the modern world, investors are interested in investing their money not just for financial return, but also increasingly for positive social and environmental impact”, Director of Finance Teppo Koivisto writes in the review. ”Free education and the public health care system have been cornerstones of welfare in the Finnish society for a long time.”
In 2019, the Republic of Finland successfully fulfilled its EUR 14.8 billion issuance programme. The net borrowing amounted to EUR 1.4 billion. The central government debt stock was EUR 106.4 billion at year end, i.e. 43.9 per cent in relation to GDP.
“For 2020, the scale of our financing programme is higher due to two benchmark bond redemptions. The overall gross borrowing requirement, including short-term funding, will be EUR 23.3 billion”, Koivisto says.
Education and skilled labour impact the economy
Guest authors in the review are Olli-Pekka Heinonen, Director General at the Finnish National Agency for Education, and Antti Kauhanen, Research Director of the Research Institute of the Finnish Economy (Etla).
In his article, Heinonen writes about the Finnish education system and its future.
”We need to consider how to ensure that everyone has equal opportunities for acquiring competence in the increasingly digitalised world”, Heinonen says.
Kauhanen focuses on skilled labour’s impact on economic growth.
“The claim that human capital bolsters economic growth is supported by both theoretical and empirical studies. As such, maintaining a high level of human capital is important for the growth prospects of Finland”, Kauhanen says.
The Debt Management Annual Review 2019 is available online at annualreview2019.treasuryfinland.fi.
The review will be published in Finnish and Swedish during March.