Gross domestic product rose by 2.1 per cent in 2022

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

Clearly more money than before was used 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.

Wages and salaries rose by six per cent in 2022. As a whole, 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.

Current account showed a record 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. This was explained by transport and tourism. The balance of goods and services showed a record deficit due to the energy crisis.

The current account deficit grew to a new record of EUR 10 billion. 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.

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

The financial position, or net lending, of general government showed a deficit of EUR 2.2 billion in 2022. In the previous year, the deficit was EUR 6.8 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 4.3 billion, while one year before it was EUR eight billion. The deficit of local government (municipalities and joint municipal authorities, etc.) remained almost unchanged, being around EUR 750 million. There is more uncertainty than usual concerning preliminary data on local government due to inconsistencies detected in the source data.

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 surplus of employment pension schemes grew to around EUR 2.5 billion. The surplus does not include value changes in investments. The financial position of other social security funds also improved, being good EUR 400 million in surplus. This was affected by improved employment.

Revision of quarterly national accounts

The revision of GDP to 2.1 per cent (2.0 in February) is mainly due to upward revisions in the source data of value added tax.

In connection with the March release, we have also updated the database tables of quarterly national accounts in accordance with the European revision policy. Compared to February, the data have become revised especially as concerns government finance and the rest of the world.