Strengthening the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) will make the EU’s crisis management framework more credible and effective, say the finance ministers of ten EU Member States in their joint statement.

On Thursday 4 October, Finland submitted its draft budgetary plan for 2019 to the European Commission.

Finland’s construction growth rate will slow considerably in 2019, particularly as a result of a decrease in housing construction, according to a report published on 27 September 2018 by the RAKSU working group on business cycles in the construction sector. The full-year growth rate forecast for 2018 was revised upwards. The RAKSU group expects construction output as a whole to be up by 3–4% this year and the output level in 2019 to remain close to this year’s figure. The forecast for construction growth in 2019 is in the range 1% to –1%.