Finland Times

Concerning the EU's new range of economic sanctions against Russia over the crisis in Ukraine, Finnish Prime Minister Alexander Stubb said on Tuesday that the latest sanctions will have no radical impact on the Finnish economy.

Experts from the Federation of Finnish Technology Industries, however, held different opinions.

Sanctions targeting the Russian financial market will obstruct the Russian state-owned financial enterprises' access to finance, and the impact will appear in the Finnish exports from autumn this year, the experts believed.

Mika Nykanen, director of industrial policy from the federation, told the daily Helsingin Sanomat on Wednesday that the sanctions targeting financial sectors will seriously affect Finnish exports to Russia.

According to Jorma Tutunen, managing director of the federation, many Finnish companies have already reported that their Russian customers' access to finance was more difficult, due to the deterioration of the Russian economy before sanctions were imposed.

Russian companies' difficult access to finance will have a significant impact on their ability to make investment, and Finnish companies' access to finance in Russia will also become problematic, Turunen told the daily.

Russia is the most important trade partner of Finland. Russia's share of Finland's exports last year was 10 percent. Jukka Palokangas, chief economist from the federation, estimated that the Finnish exports to Russia will drop in the next five years.

The experts were universally pessimistic about the Finnish perspective on trade with Russia, arguing that the long lasting economic recession, the impact of Russian sanctions and other factors will inevitably weaken the Finnish companies' operation in Russia.