Editorial | Debt elections should be seen in the next government terms

Editorial|Editorial

Jexternal debt has dominated the parliamentary election debates. In the run-up to the elections, the Economic Research Institute (Etla), the Bank of Finland and the Ministry of Finance have announced their own economic forecasts. The message from all forecasting agencies has been more or less the same: right now we are in a recession, but it should ease towards the end of this year. But even post-recession growth is becoming sluggish.

In the election debates – or actually in the debates – the opposition party Kokomomus has presented the strictest line. It would be ready to balance the public finances in the next election term with six billion euros and in the next government term with three billion. The numbers of the coalition have been cut and pasted at the suggestion of the Ministry of Finance. The balancing goal of other parties has been milder, the goals of Sdp and the Left Alliance being the mildest.

MSixten Korkman, for example, has considered the economic line pursued by the coalition – and his former ministry – to be too strict. According to him (HS Vision 22.3.) balancing a total of nine billion over two election periods would bring too much suffering to people.

Korkman also chaired the round table of top leaders of labor market organizations, where the measures and policy proposals drawn up by the two preparation groups were discussed. The direction of Finland project was launched by Minister of Labor Tuula Haatainen (sd), and its working groups were led by Elina Pylkkänen, Undersecretary of State of the Ministry of Labor and Economic Affairs, and long-time economic influencer and former State Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Martti Hetemäki, as head of office. The background forces are therefore a really heavy series.

Report commissioned by the Ministry of Labor and Economy published on Monday. The key words in the report are the increase in productivity and work input. The means to achieve them had to be balanced. If the sustainability deficit were to be corrected only by reducing public spending, a notch would be created in the welfare state. If taxation were tightened, economic growth could slow down.

The report presents more than 70 proposals, some more concrete than others. For example, according to the report, training should be offered to meet the demand for labor more flexibly. There should also be more study units that are smaller than a degree.

The importance of digitization is great for increasing productivity. This is especially important for a small country like Finland, where the amount of labor restricts growth.

Regarding immigration, the report states directly: “Finland must increase work- and study-based immigration.” There is a global competition between countries for labor – especially trained labor. According to the report, in order for students who move to the country to also stay in Finland, the provision of early childhood education and teaching in English should be increased, and employment opportunities for spouses should also be promoted.

Vthe normal election day is next Sunday. The report may not be suitable as material for the remaining election debates, but it is rather intended as a foundation document for the government program. When the background forces are like this, one could imagine that the target would be the two main parties of the sinpunna, the coalition and the Sdp.

In the election debates, the need for adjustment of the state economy and the means to close the gap have been debated to the point of exhaustion. That discussion will also have to be continued after the elections, but it is also important to find goals that unite the parties and extend further into the future. This report finds them primarily in raising productivity by increasing the level of education and the number of the workforce.

The editorials are HS’s positions on a current topic. The articles are prepared by HS’s editorial department, and they reflect the journal principle line.