The decrease in value is largely due to the fact that a year ago inflation was high and the prices of energy as well as many raw materials were high, says Juuso Hiltunen, chief actuary of Statistics Finland.
Statistics Finland according to data published on Monday, the value of goods exports according to the balance of payments decreased by 19 percent in December from a year ago.
The value was 6.1 billion euros in December.
The value of goods imports according to the balance of payments decreased by 18 percent from a year ago to 5.9 billion euros.
Service export the value decreased by 18 percent from a year ago and was 2.9 billion euros. The value of service imports decreased by 8 percent from a year ago to 3.6 billion euros.
Thus, the service balance was in deficit by EUR 0.7 billion.
According to Statistics Finland, the current account was in balance in December 2023.
The end of the year in the review of the last three months, the value of exports of goods and services decreased by 3.9 billion euros, or 12 percent compared to the same period a year ago.
The value of imports of goods and services decreased by 4.5 billion euros, or 13 percent, in October–December.
Simply the value of exports of goods decreased by 2.3 billion euros in the last quarter of the year, and the value of imports of goods decreased by 4.0 billion euros from a year ago. The trade balance was EUR 3.0 billion in surplus.
The service balance weakened by EUR 1.1 billion from a year ago and was in deficit by EUR 2.3 billion. The most significant reason for the weakening of the balance sheet was the decrease in the export of services.
The export of services was reduced the most by the weak development of the export of telecommunications, information technology and information services, Statistics Finland says.
Statistics Finland chief actuary Juuso Hietanen says that the considerable weakening of exports and imports compared to a year ago is largely due to the fact that inflation was high at the comparison points a year ago.
The price of energy was also high, as were the prices of various raw materials, such as metals.
“When prices normalize, it will show in the export and import figures.”
At the end of 2023, the export figures have largely remained at the same level.
“Therefore, there was no strong increase in exports,” says Hietanen.
Balance of payments describes the external balance of the national economy and is part of the accounting of the national economy.
The current account describes the impact of foreign economic transactions on national income and on the balance between saving and investment in the national economy.
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