Finland Times

“The outlook for SMEs is improving rapidly,” said Minister of Economic Affairs Mika Lintilä, according to a government press release.

This supports the view that our economy is turning into a growth path. Now more than 40 per cent of all SMEs and 88 per cent of the strongly growth-oriented SMEs are expecting a better economic outlook for the next year. A year ago this figure was 73 per cent. 

“The improved economic situation is also reflected in employment opportunities. Two-thirds of the growth-oriented enterprises intend to increase their staff. Expectations are the highest in the construction sector and knowledge-intensive services,” Lintilä said.

Measured by all indicators, the growth-oriented enterprises are more international than other SMEs. Of all SMEs 12 per cent engaged in exports, while among the growth-oriented enterprises this share was about a third. 

As many as 60 per cent of the growth-oriented enterprises plan to invest more in internationalisation during the next year.

About 26 per cent of all SMEs and 54 per cent of the strongly growth-oriented enterprises intend to seek external financing during the next year.

“We have taken various kinds of measures to improve the access to financing, but strongly growth-oriented enterprises still consider financing as a significant obstacle to developing their operations. We are trying to find means to further improve the situation,” the minister added.

The SME barometer, published twice a year, presents the outlook of small and medium-sized enterprises one year ahead. The results are based on replies that came from a total of 4 800 enterprises. The focus in the analysis was on the outlook of strongly growth-oriented enterprises.