Supply

The current priced value of the output of the whole economy increased by 12 per cent and intermediate consumption by 16 per cent in 2022. The current priced value added calculated as the difference between output and intermediate consumption rose by seven per cent in 2022.

The volume of output grew by 1.8 per cent and that of intermediate consumption by 1.5 per cent. The volume of value added grew by 2.2 per cent. The volume of GDP increased by 1.6 per cent. Besides value added, taxes and subsidies on production have an impact on GDP.

The rise in prices of output and intermediate consumption was exceptionally rapid. The prices of output went up by 10 per cent and those of intermediate consumption by 14 per cent.

Industry-specific value added

The current priced value added of manufacturing and energy supply grew rapidly. However, as prices rose faster than the value change, the volume of value added decreased in these industries.

Accommodation and food service activities and transport, recovering from the slump caused by the coronavirus, grew strongly in 2022. In accommodation and food service activities, the price development was also more moderate than in many other industries, and the volume of value added grew rapidly. The growth in the volume of transport was curbed by prices rising by 10 per cent.

Employment and wages

The positive development in the wages and salaries sum, employed persons and hours worked continued in 2022. The number of employed persons grew by 2.9 per cent compared with 2021. Correspondingly, the number of hours worked grew by 2.2 per cent and the wages and salaries sum of the whole economy by 6.4 per cent. The positive development was strong in several industries.

The error detected in the employment figures for the general government sector has been corrected. The correction decreased the number of employed persons and hours worked in the general government sector in 2019 to 2021.

Demand

Households plagued by rising prices – private consumption grew more than households' income.

Clearly more money than before was spent on private consumption in 2022. This was partly explained by the fact that the price of the commodity basket corresponding to the previous year rose exceptionally much. According to the Consumer Price Index, the inflation for 2022 was highest in 40 years. Private consumption at current prices went up by eight per cent and the volume of private consumption grew by two per cent.

The income received by households grew less than their expenditure and households' saving rate turned negative.

The saving is derived by deducting consumption expenditure from disposable income. The saving is negative if households' disposable income is lower than households' consumption expenditure. The saving rate refers to the share of households’ savings in disposable income.

Investments

The value of investments grew by 10 per cent in 2022. The volume of investments increased by three per cent.

The growth at current prices of other structures was highest among individual assets, 34 per cent. The volume of other structures grew by 22 per cent. Other structures include investments in wind power.

Current account showed a deficit in 2022

The rise in energy prices pushed up imports of goods in monetary terms and the goods account weakened. Net exports of services also weakened.

The current account deficit stood at EUR 9.8 billion in 2022. If the current account is taken as a proportion to GDP, a ratio that takes price changes into account is obtained. The current account in relation to GDP was last more in deficit in 1992.

The data on international trade in goods and services was revised from March, with net exports being revised slightly more than a billion upwards.

General government deficit contracted to the level prior to the corona pandemic — central government deficit halved

According to revised data, the financial position, or net lending, of general government showed a deficit of EUR 2.3 billion in 2022. In the previous year, the deficit was EUR 7.4 billion. The contraction in general government deficit was affected by a growing accrual of tax revenue and social security contributions, for example. In 2022, the deficit was 0.8 per cent relative to GDP.

The deficit of central government was EUR 4.4 billion, while one year before it was EUR 8.1 billion. The deficit of local government (municipalities and joint municipal authorities, etc.) decreased slightly from the previous year and was EUR 0.5 billion.

In the national accounts, expenditure and revenue are allocated (on accrual basis) to the year when they are used. When processing the central government’s accrual-based data, an exceptionally large timing revision was made to the statistical reference year 2022, when EUR two billion of the financing paid to wellbeing services counties in 2022 was carried forward to the statistical reference year 2023. The timing revision concerns central government's current transfer of EUR two billion to wellbeing services counties, which will be recorded as expenditure for central government and as revenue for wellbeing services counties for the statistical reference year 2023. The timing revision concerns current transfers within general government, so it does not affect net lending on the level of general government.

The financial position of employment pension schemes improved compared to one year ago and was EUR 2.3 billion in surplus. The surplus does not include value changes in investments. An error detected in the source data concerning dividends received by employment pension schemes in 2021 has been corrected. The correction decreased dividends received by around EUR 0.5 billion. The financial position of other social security funds also improved and was good EUR 300 million in surplus. This was affected by improved employment.

Revision of quarterly national accounts

In connection with the June release, we have also updated the database tables of quarterly national accounts in accordance with the European revision policy.