Prime Minister Orpo: Finland needs bold new measures to boost growth
Finland needs bold and open-minded ideas on how to boost its lagging economic growth. In the long term, growth is the only way to secure the wellbeing of Finland and the Finnish people.
Prime Minister Petteri Orpo spoke on Thursday about the new Room for Growth project, which aims to find new ways to boost growth. A group of experts has been appointed to head up the project and produce policy recommendations. The Prime Minister has invited Risto Murto, CEO of Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company, to serve as the group’s chair.
“We need to find new opportunities for growth. We need ideas and views from a wide range of actors in society, and we invite everyone to get involved in this work. Our goal is to come up with concrete growth measures that can be implemented in practice. The Government is ready and willing to implement all reasonable proposals, whether they come from the right, the left or outside politics altogether,” said Prime Minister Petteri Orpo.
The task of the expert group leading the Room for Growth project is to gather proposals for boosting growth from a variety of actors in society. The group will compile the proposals it deems feasible into a final report to be completed by 28 February 2025.
“Finland needs growth, especially when it comes to productivity. The aim of this project is to come up with measures to boost growth in the longer term, but also actions we can take quickly. We need companies that can invest and grow; without them, growth is not possible,” said Varma CEO Risto Murto.
Prime Minister Orpo highlighted the key role of growth-boosting measures in the Government Programme. Among other things, the Government is taking a variety of measures to improve the conditions for entrepreneurship and is investing in research, development, and transport infrastructure. In its spending limits discussion last spring, the Government also decided on new investments to boost growth, such as a tax credit for major industrial investments and the possibility to recapitalise Fingrid and Gasgrid so that Finland’s energy grids can enable large investments anywhere in the country.
The goal of the new project is for the Government to be able to decide on new growth measures in its mid-term policy review next spring. According to Prime Minister Orpo, however, growth measures can be launched even earlier than that.
“It is great that we have a broad consensus in Finland about the need for measures to boost growth. This provides a good basis for finding solutions together, too,” said Prime Minister Orpo.
The members of the expert group leading the Room for Growth project are: Risto Artjoki, State Secretary, Jan Vapaavuori, Bachelor of Laws, Vesa Koskinen, Partner, EQT, Ari Engblom, Partner, Head of Legal Services, KPMG, Pauliina Martikainen-Rahnu, Partner, Maki.vc, Simon-Erik Ollus, Executive Vice President, Corporate Customers and Markets, Fortum, Eeva Kovanen, CEO, Partner, Kovanen Capital, Mika Maliranta, Director, Labore and Professor, University of Jyväskylä, and Raija-Leena Hankonen-Nybom, Board Member, Cargotec and Metsä Board.
Inquiries:
Mikko Martikkala, Special Adviser to the Prime Minister (Economic Policy Affairs), tel. +358 40 708 3932
Requests for interviews with Risto Murto, Chair of the expert group leading the Room for Growth project: Anna-Liisa Randström, tel. +358 10 244 3119