Juhana Brotherus, the chief economist of the federation, said that the financial situation of companies is still considered slightly worse than in May of last year. Although small and medium-sized enterprises may benefit from the easing of the energy crisis, increasing interest rates are also seen in many businesses, leading to a rise in interest rates.
The survey found that nearly 54% of the businesses assessed their financial situation as either very or fairly good. A further 29% judged it not to be neither good nor bad, while 17% felt it was fairly or very poor. The situation was best for companies employing more than ten people and weakest for single-person businesses.
Businesses have been affected by the inflation rate, with many companies raising their prices. However, not all businesses can pass on their increased costs to customers, leading to 44% of businesses reporting a decrease in profitability. The rise in interest rates has exacerbated this trend, particularly for small and medium-sized businesses, as around 40 percent of them have outstanding debt.
Brotherus notes that delays and cancellations of investments caused by inflationary pressures are a worrying prospect for the future growth of the Finnish economy. The increase in inflation has resulted in the loss of growth investments in firms with more than ten employees.
Employers who are also entrepreneurs have increased their wages, which is caused by both a general shortage of workers and the current round of collective bargaining in Finland.
Small and medium-sized enterprises can be summed up as growth, incentives, and a stable public economy. The upcoming government's capacity to meet these demands will be essential to raising expectations for desirable reforms for entrepreneurs, boosting their expectations for such reforms.
Entrepreneurs are constantly faced with a fear of making the wrong recruitment choice, and the fear of making the wrong recruitment decision is a significant worry. To ensure that more small and medium-sized entrepreneurs are confident enough to recruit additional help without the threat of unreasonable harm to their business, reducing the risk of hiring is essential.
The results of the survey, Yritt j gallup, show that Finland's businesses are grappling with various problems. The uncertainty surrounding the global economy, as well as rising inflationary pressures and higher interest rates, has resulted in a weakening of business performance. Entrepreneurs in Finland are looking to the government for policies that encourage growth and encourage small and medium-sized enterprises to maintain a stable public economy.