Business | Markets

Finnish government unveils plan to protect finance sector

Kazakhstan injects $15b into economy to avoid global crisis fallout

  • Agencies
  • Published: 00:55 October 21, 2008
  • Gulf News

Helsinki/Almaty : The Finnish government on Monday presented a plan worth 54 billion euros (Dh265 billion) aimed at shoring up the financial sector in case the global credit crisis takes a heavier toll.

The new plan aimed "to secure banks' long-term financing and to support their financial standing," the finance ministry said in a statement.

Finland, which so far has escaped virtually unscathed from the ongoing financial turmoil, vowed after a eurozone meeting last week to introduce new legislation enabling it to guarantee bank loans and to invest state capital in banks in case the crisis hit it harder.

Guaranteed loans

The finance ministry said yesterday it had estimated the Nordic country could guarantee bank loans for up to 50 billion euros, while the state's capital investments in banks would not exceed four billion euros.

The Kazakh government plans to inject $15 billion (Dh55.2 billion) into the domestic economy by the end of the year to avoid the fallout from the global economic crisis, the prime minister said yesterday.

Karim Massimov said the amount is equivalent to some 15 per cent of the nation's gross domestic product. "This is a huge amount that will allow us to make new breakthroughs and minimise the consequences from external markets," Massimov told a government meeting.

Under the plan, up to $10 billion will be drawn from a National Fund created to develop the economy, Massimov said.

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