to private consumer demand, which has expanded only moderately. like germany, finland experienced a strong rebound in 2010, although it started a little later than elsewhere in europe, as global demand for capital goods increased. finland ’ s economic outlook is discussed in greater detail in the following section. recent crisis poses a long - term challenge to fiscal policy debt problems have come to the fore especially in europe [ slide 5 ], where in the past three years eight countries have already found it necessary to seek emergency funding from the international monetary fund. in 2010, emergency funding was also needed in euro area countries. greece was the first to agree, in may, with the international monetary fund and the eu, on a comprehensive financial support package, followed by ireland in december. the financial assistance packages were conditional on the countries ’ commitment to economic programmes aimed at stabilising public finances. the outbreak of the government debt crisis led to efforts to strengthen european institutions so as to prevent crises from emerging and contribute to minimising the damages when they do occur. at the end of 2010, euro area governments agreed on the establishment in 2013 of a permanent crisis management framework, the european stability mechanism ( esm ). finland ’ s economic outlook the finnish economy recovered strongly in 2010, with growth bolstered by both domestic demand and exports [ slide 6 ]. the substantial increase in output over the course of 2010 will also considerably boost the average growth figures for 2011. growth will continue to be bis central bankers ’ speeches relatively brisk, but will slow noticeably towards the end of the forecast period. gdp will grow 3. 9 % in 2011, 2. 7 % in 2012 and 2. 5 % in 2013. the recession has caused a contraction in the gdp share of industry, and conversely an increase in the share of service sectors, which are characterised by slower productivity growth. over the longer term, this structural shift will weaken the growth potential of the economy. export growth will be bolstered by stronger global demand for capital goods towards the end of the forecast period. the general government deficit will contract, but government debt will not. at the end of the forecast period the general government deficit will be 0. 8 % and general government debt 54. 0 % of gdp. the current account will continue in surplus. recent developments in the finnish economy have been mixed. on one hand, economic growth has strengthened and surveys indicate strongly improved confidence in the future. on the other hand, the rapid growth has touched only some sectors of the economy

##richt treaty. secondly, its high degree of independence will give the ecb / escb a certain amount of institutional credibility right from the outset. recently, we have heard many voices, among political decision - makers, on the one hand, and academic researchers, on the other, who have emphasized the necessity of the accountability and transparency of the ecb. central banks and central bankers have since the onset of liberalization understood that one essential ingredient of monetary policymaking is openness. the more carefully the central bank explains its thinking to the financial markets, the more readily the markets ’ reactions to monetary policy measures can be predicted. that is to say, openness eases the conduct of monetary policy and strengthens its impact. the role of national central banks in accountability and in promoting transparency within the escb will be that of communicator to national decision - makers, labour market participants and the general public regarding the analyses and views of the ecb, but also specifically regarding the domestic monetary policy transmission mechanism. and the national central bank will need to continue analysing and forecasting its country ’ s inflation path in the regime of the single monetary policy and, on this basis, present its outlook on possible national imbalances and national needs for corrective measures via other segments of economic policy, particularly fiscal policy. * [UNK] * * the single monetary policy will of course bring demanding challenges to peripheral countries whose industrial structures, behavioural modes and business cycles have previously diverged from those of the core countries. as for finland, thorough analyses have showed that external shocks have not been much bigger for finland than for other countries. instead, the domestic reactions in the economy and economic policies to these external shocks have greatly strengthened their effects. in the short run, inflation rates may differ somewhat between emu - member countries, but in the medium term harmonization is necessary. the real costs of this harmonization will be smaller when the common inflation target is more clearly credible and acknowledged and when all sectors are more clearly aiming at it also in the short run. we have seen clear improvement in this kind of awareness in finland during the last few years, but of course it will be acid - tested during the current economic boom. the corporate sector has used a substantial part of its profits from good years to improve its capital structure. it has built up a good buffer to be used in bad times and in covering losses without having to cut wages or reduce staff. since wage developments are the most important cost factor