What’s new

Mining and the industries and services related to it play a significant role in the Finnish national economy and central government finances. In order for mining operations to be carried out successfully in Finland, it is necessary to take into account their economic, ecological, and social sustainability.

According to the OECD, the fiscal policy monitoring at the NAOF has had a positive impact on the fiscal framework in Finland.

The National Audit Office (NAOF) emphasizes that it is important to adhere to the spending limits for central government finances. The NAOF has audited the functioning of the spending limits system and published its spring fiscal policy monitoring assessment.

The activities of the National Audit Office of Finland (NAOF) are currently being investigated both internally and externally.

Member states of the Monetary Union need rules to manage their public finances. A situation without any rules would probably be the worst option. However, there has been criticism of the existing EU rules. Could the EU change its fiscal rules so that they could make fiscal policy less pro-cyclical and enhance debt sustainability?

The European Green Deal programme, adopted as its main strategy by the European Commission, affects the EU's financial and fiscal policy. At the same time, the importance and role of central government in boosting environmentally sustainable investments strengthens in Finland.

International climate finance provided as part of Finland's development cooperation should also pro-mote gender equality and help empower women and girls. Generally, climate finance projects have a positive impact on the status of women and girls in the partner countries. However, there are major differences in the impact of projects, and the information available on the impact also varies. This brief-ing paper is mainly based on the National Audit Office’s performance audit ‘Finland's international cli-mate finance - Steering and effectiveness’ (6/2021), which examines the prerequisites for the effec-tiveness of Finland’s international climate finance.

While the Ministry for Foreign Affairs is increasing Finland’s international climate finance as set out in the current Government Programme, it lacks a published plan on how this increasing finance should be allocated and what its specific objectives are. It is also difficult to form an overall picture of how effective the finance has been so far.