Finnish economy likely expanded 1 pct in Q1 2017, says Nordea Bank

Finland is set to release its first quarter GDP growth data this week. According to a Nordea Bank research report, the Finnish economy is likely to have experienced unusually robust growth, reaching 1 percent or more on a sequential basis. The flash GDP print of Finland is based on a monthly indicator of total production. This indicator, on a seasonally adjusted basis, rose 3.7 percent in January and 3 percent in February.

If the data stayed unchanged in the initial two months of this year and if it has remained so in March, the total production growth is expected to have come in at 2.5 percent to 3 percent year-on-year for the whole of first quarter.

“We expect that the Q1 Flash GDP rises by at least 1.0 percent and potentially even more. Part of this sharp rise is probably weather driven, but definitely not all of it”, added Nordea Bank.

The construction sector is likely to have benefited the most from the lack of snow.