Press releases

On the brink of summer 2018, there was a turn of events that was particularly evident in the amount of revenue in department store trade and wholesale trade*: the three per cent growth witnessed at the start of the year turned down. The growth of specialty goods trade and grocery trade also slowed down. The slowing growth will also continue next year, and unemployment will begin to increase again. The greatest challenge facing commerce is the domestic cost burden, which makes it difficult to compete on a global scale. Value added tax specifically penalises work done in Finland.

Even a strong economic cycle has not been enough to bring commerce to the level of growth of the early 2000s. Retail is estimated to grow this year as well as last year. However, the growth will slow down next year. Employment has risen only temporarily and will continue to decline in 2020. Growth in wholesale turnover has not improved the rate of employment. The development of the service sector is slowed down by multiple taxes accumulated on top of the services’ prices. Heavy taxation on services and decreased consumption due to the ageing population will make the future of the private service sector very difficult if there will be no tax cuts.