The Economy of the Border Municipalities of Finland in the Post-Crisis Years

Abstract

The 2008–2009 crisis and the subsequent euro zone crisis dealt a serious blow to the Finnish economy. 2009 was marked by a significant reduction in the country's GDP, an increase in unemployment, and an increase in public debt. In the following years, Finland did not experience stable economic growth, and in 2014, mutual sanctions between Russia and the EU made their contribution. It was only in 2016 that the country began its systematic return to its pre-crisis state. Finnish municipalities bordering Russia since the 1990’s. the twentieth century is the least economically developed part of the country, which at the same time is most closely connected with our country due to its geographical location. In this regard, in this article, the author considered the economic situation of these municipalities on the basis of available official statistics. It was found that the dynamics of the considered indicators most often correlate with what was happening in the country as a whole. In 2014–2015, no special negative consequences from counter-sanctions on the part of our country were revealed. The exception was the indicators related to the service sector of border municipalities, which in 2014–2015 were noticeably worse than the average for Finland.