Finnish economic analysts on Monday noted positively China's economic growth in the third quarter (Q3) of 2020.
According to China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data on Monday, the country's gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 4.9 percent year on year in Q3 of 2020, faster than the 3.2-percent growth seen in the second quarter. In the first three quarters, China's GDP expanded 0.7 percent year on year, returning to growth after the 1.6 percent-contraction in the first half of the year and the 6.8-percent slump in Q1.
Iikka Korhonen, head of the Bank of Finland Institute for Economies in Transition (BOFIT), told Finnish business daily Kauppalehti on Monday that the Chinese figures in Q3 "matched expectations on the whole."
He said that Chinese imports from the EU area grew by some 11 percent during September. "This may mean good news to Finnish enterprises," he emphasized.
BOFIT summed up in its weekly review that China is the only G20 country expected to see positive growth this year.
Jan von Gerich, the chief analyst at the Nordea Bank, told Kauppalehti that, in light of the figures, China has recovered "at a totally different pace" than how the rest of the world will recover. He noted the Q3 growth in China was "a little bit less than expected but nevertheless strong."
Risto Murto, president and CEO of Finland's Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company as well as a long time Finnish economic analyst, also noted that Chinese growth this year is already cumulatively on the plus side.
Meanwhile, von Gerich said that some economic predictions may have to be revised downwards regarding the impact of the latest increase of COVID-19 infections in Europe on Finland. He noted the current decline percentage predictions of 2020 range between 5 and 4 percent, while 2-3 percent growth is predicted for next year.
"Even though the fourth quarter predictions would not water down the whole year 2020 any longer, they would shake strongly the vistas for 2021," von Gerich was quoted as saying.
He noted that compared with the rest of Europe the restrictive measures in Finland are not yet very strong. "It may not be necessary to turn Finnish estimates badly downwards, but uncertainty will grow here as well," he added.
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