General Government Fiscal Plan for 2021–2024 approved

On 16 April 2020, the Government approved the General Government Fiscal Plan for 2021–2024.

On 16 March 2020, the Government, in cooperation with the President of the Republic, declared a state of emergency in Finland because of the coronavirus outbreak. These circumstances are within the meaning of the exceptional circumstances clause set out in the EU’s Stability and Growth Pact. For this reason the General Government Fiscal Plan only presents a medium-term projection for general government finances based on an independent forecast and does not include the Stability Programme.

The General Government Fiscal Plan for 2021–2024 does not set out the Government's goals or planned measures for achieving them. Therefore, in this case, the General Government Fiscal Plan is not a national medium-term fiscal plan under the Budget Frameworks Directive.

This year, the Stability Programme will be submitted to the EU by the end of April in a more concise form than usual, as agreed by the European Commission and Member States. It is not appropriate to prepare the Stability Programme in its standard form, which sets multiannual targets for general government finances and gives the Government’s assessment of the achievement of the Medium-Term Objective (MTO), until the economic situation becomes clearer.

It is estimated that on-budget entities will be approximately EUR 6.7–7.6 billion in deficit in the period 2021–2024.

The General Government Fiscal Plan is built around the latest economic forecast produced by the Ministry of Finance.

Inquiries:

Sami Yläoutinen, Director General of Budget Department, tel. +358 2955 30320, sami.ylaoutinen(at)vm.fi