The Finnish state continues to borrow — 13 billion euros this year — despite PM Petteri Orpo's (NCP) government's austerity measures, writes Helsingin Sanomat on Monday as the coalition government gears up for two days of budget talks.
At the end of last year, Finland's state debt stood at 156 billion euros, up from 54 billion in 2008.
HS asked the Finance Ministry to explain where the money has gone.
The ministry said that a few main categories stand out, one of them being defence, including acquiring new fighter jets. The state is also paying many more times in interest to service its debt as the time of exceptionally low interest rates has ended.
Healthcare expenses have also grown, as have costs for funding social benefits agency Kela, according to HS.
Russian threats
Ilta-Sanomat reports on the latest threats issued by Russia.
"Finland will become the target of Russia's full-scale political and military countermeasures if Finland allows the transit of nuclear weapons," IS quotes Russian foreign ministry official Vladimir Yermakov saying to Russian news agency Tass.
The official said that Russia did not harbor security concerns regarding Finland before its accession to Nato, but by joining the alliance, Finland abandoned its military non-alignment, which previously ensured "peace and stability."
The paper notes that Finnish laws don't allow moving nuclear weapons through Finnish territory. However, Finland's decision on whether or not to allow it in the future is expected to be made later this year.
Finnish roots
"It's cool to be a Finn," a Hufvudstadsbladet headline asserts in a story about Swedish-Finnish singer-songwriter Miriam Bryant, born in Sweden to a Finnish mother and an English father.
The news is that the Swedish artist is now releasing a song in Finnish, but reconnecting with the language hasn't always been easy.
"I become more hesitant when I speak FInnish. It's a bit like an identity crisis," she told HBL, explaining how she stopped speaking the language for a while during her teens after being ostracised by classmates over her Finnish roots at school.
"There was nothing sexy about growing up as a Finn in Sweden. For some reason, it was a bit low status," she explained.
But according to Bryant, attitudes towards Finnish in Sweden are becoming more positive — a shift also evident in her willingness to now sing in Finnish.
Yle News' most recent All Points North podcast explored how to overcome linguistic hurdles when speaking Finnish as a foreigner.
Listen to the episode via this embedded player, on Yle Areena, via Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
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