Output of the national economy fell in March

The coronavirus has also damaged Finnish industrial production in the first quarter, when the pandemic broke out.

According to the latest Statistics Finland's data, adjusted for working days, industrial output fell by 2.7% in March 2020 from one year back. Seasonally adjusted output in turn went down by 1.7%  from the month before.

Working day adjusted primary production decreased by around 6% from the year before. Secondary production decreased by about 2% and services by around 3% per cent from March 2019

Primary production refers to agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing. Secondary production includes manufacturing and construction. Services comprise trade, hotel and restaurant activities, transport and business activities, as well as real estate, renting and research services, financial intermediation and insurance, and public services.

GDP and employment estimated growth

Despite the outbreak of the epidemic in March, seasonally adjusted GDP is estimated to have grown by 0.1% in the first quarter of 2020 from the previous quarter.

According to the series adjusted for working days, GDP was 0.2% up on the corresponding quarter of the year before.

It is estimated that the number of the employed has increased by around 0.6% from one year ago. Adjusted for working days, the number of hours worked was around 0.2% higher than in the same quarter of one year ago.