New Ministry of Finance strategy creates guidelines for a more responsible future
The Ministry of Finance has updated its strategy. The strategy was updated to better meet the challenges and changes in the operating environment. The Ministry of Finance kept its vision the same, ‘The Ministry of Finance secures future prospects.’
The previous update of the strategy was in 2016. There was no need for radical changes, because the Ministry has certain core duties set out in law that are the backbone of its activities. Continuity was a key consideration in many parts of the update, because strategy work always takes a long view.
The Ministry of Finance’s new strategy looks strongly to the future. The Ministry’s vision set out in the strategy is ‘The Ministry of Finance secures future prospects.’
“We will work towards this vision through two focus areas. We ensure the stability of general government finances and create the foundation for sustainable growth. We also create the foundation for good governance and well-functioning public services,” says State Secretary Juha Majanen about the key tasks of the Ministry of Finance.
“Sustainable economic growth is important to us. Our new strategy also puts people in the forefront. The new strategy emphasises our desire to promote ecological and social sustainability alongside economic sustainability. We work hard to succeed in our core tasks, because we want to ensure that Finland remains a stable and sustainable society for future generations,” Majanen says.
“We made a conscious choice to explicitly mention the rule of law in our strategy.”
The strategy was updated through inclusive collaboration
The Ministry of Finance’s strategy was updated through an interactive and participatory process in which the Ministry’s personnel and key stakeholders were consulted. The updated strategy incorporates the themes that society expects the Ministry of Finance to tackle.
The survey carried out to support the strategy update asked stakeholders what societal changes the Ministry should particularly focus on. The top three themes that came up were demographic trends, the sustainability of public finances and climate change. Climate change, for example, was seen as a societal change that will impact the economy in many different ways.
“When working on our strategy, we sought to identify weak signals that could become significant issues for us in the future. Now that we have a picture of the future we want, we can work even better towards making it a reality. However, the world continues to change around us. This is why we continually look ahead and adjust our focus whenever necessary, not just when working on a strategy document,” Majanen says.
Responsibility as a new value for the Ministry
One change made to the strategy is a reorientation of the Ministry of Finance’s values. The dialogues held concerning the Ministry’s values revealed that responsibility should be made more clearly visible in the Ministry’s work. The values defined in the Ministry of Finance's new strategy are transparency, trust and responsibility.
“In line with this new value, we will raise the level of our ambition and ensure that responsibility is present in all our activities,” Majanen promises.
Over the course of the spring, the Ministry of Finance is also working on a communications strategy and personnel strategy, which will be published later.
Inquiries:
Juha Majanen, Permanent Secretary, tel. +358 295 530 247, juha.majanen(at)gov.fi