Finland’s economy unexpectedly grew in the second quarter helped by an increase in exports of services while investments and consumer spending remained weak, Bloomberg reported. Gross domestic product increased 0.2%, according to data from Statistics Finland in Helsinki. Three estimates by economists in a Bloomberg survey ranged from a contraction of 0.1% to 0.4%. Adjusted for working days, economic output was up 0.1% from a year earlier. The figures are “better than expected but don’t change the big picture,” said Anssi Rantala, chief economist at Aktia Bank. Cooling expectations for global growth will hamper the country’s revival as the economy depends on exports and private consumption is reaching its limits, Rantala said. The government has warned that the nation faces a fourth year of contraction as it cuts spending and raises taxes to avoid debt from swelling too much. The northernmost euro member is struggling to expand as key industries such as paper making and consumer electronics suffer and export demand from recession-plagued Russia slides.
