The Russian war of aggression on Ukraine has hit a sore spot when it comes to price development as the inflation situation is already challenging, said Juho Romakkaniemi, CEO of the Finland Chamber of Commerce.
He pointed out that the war has raised the prices of several raw materials that were already high and has had a broad-based impact on business costs, as well as consumer prices.
The increasing cost pressure is being transferred to consumers by companies. Romakkaniemi believes that it is important to foster the investment environment to make sure companies can make the significant energy investments necessary to break their dependence on Russia. This would make sure companies can cope with the change in the operational environment as well as possible without compromising their competitiveness.
63 per cent of companies said the war will have no impact on their investments, while 29 per cent of companies said the war has forced them to scale back their investment plans moderately or significantly.
More than a quarter 28% of companies indicated that the war has complicated co-operation with foreign investors and partners moderately or significantly.
According to Romakkaniemi, the open-ended questions of the survey highlight how polarised companies are in regards to the impact of the war and future outlook. The impact has been small for some companies with ties to Russia, but significant for others.
He said that the situation can change in a blink of an eye due to accelerating inflation and many companies continue to have high growth expectations.
Nearly 2,000 companies from different sectors and regions in Finland responded to the survey on 6 June.