Finance ministry upgrades recession readiness
Top civil servants review economic situation weekly
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The economic slump, which has morphed from a vague mirage on the horizon into a concrete obstacle, has put the Ministry of Finance on its toes.
Top civil servants at the ministry are now meeting regularly every Friday to analyse the latest trends in the economic situation.
The pace of the meetings was changed in late October. The meetings are chaired by the ministry’s Secretary of State Raimo Sailas.
The group of section chiefs focuses mainly on information put out by the ministry’s own departments. The group has received fresh information on the situation in different parts of the country from provincial governors as well.
Anita Sihvola, head of the Communications Unit at the Finance Ministry, does not want to speak about a “crisis group”.
“No, no. The economic situation naturally caused this, but this is an information channel, as it were, to help us know where things are going. Readiness has been raised in this manner”, says Sihvola, who attends the meetings herself.
In her view, the goal is to achieve a common view of the situation for the Ministry of Finance.
“We are pondering specifically, what the stimulus measures might be”, Sihvola says.
The ministry is in full swing preparing the first supplementary budget for 2009, which is to be presented in February. In it, the government plans to put forward new stimulus measures.
In addition to the Friday meetings of the section chiefs, a separate management team on preparation for economic policy meets, chaired by Minister of Finance Jyrki Katainen (Nat. Coalition Party).
The drafting of the stimulus package linked with the actual supplementary budget is in the hands of Raimo Sailas.
More on this subject:
 Increasingly pessimistic Finance Ministry not predicting depth of slump
Helsingin Sanomat
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