Finland's spending plan for next year — and planned cuts — are drawing interest on Tuesday, as the government begins a two-day session discussing next year's budget.
An interview with Finance Minister Riikka Purra is Helsingin Sanomat's most-read story, where she tells the paper that she wants the government to prepare for more cuts and tax increases.
Recent economic forecasts and the pace of debt accumulation are necessitating further-belt tightening, according to Finns Party leader Purra, who noted that for now, this was her personal view, not that of the administration.
"The right time for these decisions is next spring's budget framework session," she told HS.
The government has been heavily criticised for planning cuts to low-income groups.
Last month, the Finance Ministry said Finland would need to borrow 10 billion euros next year. Purra told HS that the final number would likely be higher as tax revenues are decreasing while healthcare funding needs are growing more than expected.
Marin's new job
Ex-PM Sanna Marin's decision to quit Finnish politics and join the Tony Blair Institute continues to interest the readers of Ilta-Sanomat.
The paper interviewed Guardian journalist Kiran Stacey, who speculated that Marin was hired as her new employer is particularly interested in how technology can be used in public services.
One of the institute's largest financiers is the American technology billionaire Larry Ellison, who founded Oracle. Stacey suggested the institute's work serves Ellison's interests.
Hiring individuals like Marin increases Blair's credibility, Stacey told IS. The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change has made headlines in the UK for continuing its collaboration with Saudi Arabia after the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The institute's revenues have grown "explosively" in recent years, reaching 76 million euros in 2021, according to the paper.
Gender pay gap
A new EU directive is expected to help increase wage transparency starting from 2026. One of the goals is to address pay inequalities between men and women, reports Kauppalehti.
In Finland, the gender pay gap is 16 percent. The main reason behind this gap is the division of labour into male and female-dominated sectors, according to KL.
Atte Rytkönen-Sandberg of SME lobby Suomen Yrittäjät told the business daily that the wage directive was not going to directly address some of the reasons men pull down bigger salaries.
"Women take more parental leaves and men work more annual hours," he told KL.
Lotta Savinko of white-collar union Akava meanwhile noted that the higher one climbs the career ladder, the more the wage gap tends to widen.
"I believe that wage transparency can help in this aspect," she said.
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