FINLAND: STABILITY PROGRAMME MUST SEEK BUDGETARY CONSOLIDATION.

Public finances in the black.Finland's Stability Programme update points to a general budget surplus of 3.1% of GDP in 1999 and aims at surpluses above 4% of GDP, through the period until 2003. This would be clearly sufficient to provide a safety margin against breaching the 3% of GDP deficit threshold in normal cyclical situation. There is a very good record of implementation of the 1998 Stability Programme up to now, especially for public finances. The 1998 Programme projections for improvement of the budget balance and the reduction in national debt have been exceeded.The Finnish authorities have focused on reducing the ratio of expenditure to GDP through the implementation of restrictive multi-annual expenditure ceilings for Central Government. This approach was presented in the initial Stability Programme and is continued in the update. By so doing, the updated programme aims at budget...