The government of Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (NCP) on Thursday published a list of some 170 million euros in spending cuts aimed at reducing state budget deficits.
Several papers carried an STT news agency item on opposition criticism claiming the government was hiding information about its planned cuts
"You continue to hide the savings and cuts of a hundred million. You still won't tell us where they are," said Social Democratic Party leader Antti Lindtman.
Lindtman pressed the government to say why it is not making details about the cuts public before the upcoming elections.
Prime Minister Orpo responded to the criticism by saying that the government wants to prepare the savings carefully. He went on to defended the paper published by the Ministry of Finance on Thursday saying that the government had rejected several cuts proposed by civil servants.
"These are the same figures that we previously decided on, but we are looking for a more humane targets for them than, for example, than those presented in the civil service paper," Orpo said.
This argument did not sit well with the opposition.
"After first telling civil servants to go for more cuts, now you are telling us that you have heroically been able to reject some additional cuts," Lindtman responded.
Later Thursday evening, Finance Minister Riikka Purra (Finns) that even more spending cuts are needed than those already announced.
Iltalehti notes that speaking during a Yle TV election debate, Purra said she considers it "very likely" that more savings will be targeted in budget framework talks later this spring, with the aim of ensuring that that state's debt ratio will be stabilised by the end of this election period.
Purra added there are new spending needs, for example related to defense, and that measures aimed at boosting economic growth will also have to be funded.
She was unable to say what level of new spending cuts will be required.
US tariffs and Finnish-made cars
The economic and business daily Kauppalehti reported Valmet Automotive explaining that the planned 25 percent tariffs on car imports to the US will have no immediate impact on production at the company's Uusikaupunki car factory.
"For the time being, work at the plant will continue as planned. However, it is difficult to assess what impact the import tariffs will have on the demand for cars," Valmet Automotive's Communications Manager Mikael Mäki told the paper. "We will wait and see what the longer-term effects will be. Those are also very difficult to estimate."
Two Mercedes-Benz car models are currently produced in Uusikaupunki. Only the luxury Mercedes AMG GT-series cars are exported to the US.
The four-door AMG GT model accounts for a small share of Uusikaupunki's production volume and is also exported elsewhere than the US. Production of the model, which is aimed at a high-end market, is entirely concentrated in Uusikaupunki, so it does not compete with other Mercedes production units.
The compact Mercedes A-series manufactured in Uusikaupunki has not been exported from Finland to the United States at all.
In 2023, Valmet Automotive's Uusikaupunki factory produced around 30,000 cars.
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Helsinki University most popular
The University of Helsinki was the most popular university in Finland in this year's application period, according to Helsingin Sanomat.
It reported that 35,383 people applied for admission to the University of Helsinki, with its bachelor's or master's degree programmes the first-choice school of 20,668 applicants.
There are a reported 4,770 spots available for new students in the next academic year at the capital city university.
The most popular degree programmes sought by applications were in law, medicine and psychology.
Cheap power
Papers including Karjalainen reported that spot market electricity prices are again low on Friday. The day's average price of electricity, subject to value added tax, is 0.44 cents per kilowatt-hour today.
The most expensive hour of the day is between 9:00 and 10:00 am, when the price per kilowatt-hour is projected to be 1.59 cents.
The price of electricity is at zero in the afternoon from 1 pm to 5 pm and again after 7 pm.
However, in addition to the spot price, most customers pay a margin and a base charge, as well as a transmission fee to the local grid company.
Warmer, but maybe more snow
Ilta-Sanomat examined a Foreca weather service forecast saying that in sunny areas of southern and central Finland, Saturday should be warm with temperatures above 10 degrees Celsius, possibly as high as 14 degrees.
Going into April, this spring weather in the south could be warmer than normal. But, there will be some colder spells, as well.
Foreca meteorologist Joonas Koskela said that if the current 10-day forecast is accurate, southern Finland could see a brief return of wintry weather with snow showers almost as far south as the south coast.
"But then again, if the low pressure goes the other way, it could be really warm with readings of over 10 degrees Celsius, which is what we've had here in the last few days," Koskela said.
To sum up, the word to describe upcoming spring weather is "variable".
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