Another important goal is to speed up economic growth. In an economic review at the end of November the Ministry of Finance estimated that the economy would grow by 2.5 per cent next year. Considerably higher estimates have been made by various research organisations. According to the Ministry's assessment, the downturn experienced in the spring had been rectified by the end of the year and economic growth appears to be continuing strongly. Spending cuts and faster economic growth will improve the state's own economic situation slightly more than was earlier estimated.
Unemployment remains the biggest problem.
The rate of unemployment has fallen this year to 16.4 per cent from last year's 17.2 per cent. A slight improvement is forecast for next year. The numbers are still very high and the fall in unemployment has been slow, much slower than expected. The Finnish state economy is likely to reach the condition required for EMU, but changing the attitude of the people of Finland is a truly difficult matter. A critical observer could turn the President's statement another way.