HELSINKI, June 19: Finland on Tuesday revised its economic growth forecast for 2012 higher, despite a crisis plaguing the eurozone and its negative impact on Finnish exports.

The Nordic country's finance ministry said it expected the economy to grow by 1.0pc this year, up from the 0.8pc forecasted in April. Declining exports reflecting the eurozone crisis were putting heavy pressure on private consumption, it said, pointing out in a statement that “economic growth will rely entirely on domestic consumption.”

“Export growth will remain subdued, in part because of the sluggish euro area and in part because of the structure of export demand, which is currently unfavourable to Finland,” it added.

Exports are expected to rise by less than half a per cent in 2012 in terms of value, and by around 2.5pc in 2013 before gaining 5.0pc in 2014, the ministry said.

For next year, the ministry forecast Finland's gross domestic product would expand by 1.2pc, before climbing another 2.1pc in 2014.It also predicted the country's unemployment rate would rise slightly to 7.9 per cent this year.—AFP