Finland: Monthly economic activity improves in August
Economic activity flatlined month on month in seasonally adjusted terms in August (July: -0.7% mom). Looking at the details of the release, the secondary sector rose at a faster pace, and the services sector also accelerated. Less positively, the primary sector—which includes the agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing subsectors—shrank in August.
On an annual basis, economic activity rose at a softer pace of 0.3% in working day adjusted terms in August (July: +0.6% yoy), the weakest result since February. Accordingly, the trend pointed down, with annual average economic activity growth falling to 0.8% in August (July: +0.9%), which marked an over two-year low.