The Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK) released a bullish business forecast on Wednesday, saying that the recovery that began last year has accelerated in all the main sectors. The EK's Business Tendency Survey showed a clear uptick in April.
It says that the outlook in the manufacturing and construction sectors is already above average, while that in the service branch remains slightly below average. The business lobby's survey suggests an economic upswing continuing at least through next summer and autumn. Firms in all three sectors expect to hire slightly more staff in the coming months.
The sector with the biggest jump in the latest outlook index was manufacturing, up to 13 points from 7 in January. In construction, the outlook held steady level at 19 points, while in the service sector expectations rose to 20 points from 13 in January.
Fatter order books
Heavy industry reported a bump in new orders in the first quarter and expects to continue at the same pace in late spring. On the whole, order books are slightly stronger than the long-term average, with the capacity utilisation rate at 74 percent, close to the long-term average.
Responding to the quarterly survey were executives at nearly 1300 companies representing more than 260,000 employees in Finland.
The latest results follow another optimistic prognosis released a day earlier by the Federation of Finnish Technology Industries. It reported on Tuesday that tech exports rose by 13 percent in the first quarter and are set to grow briskly this year.
