Finland Cuts 2017 Borrowing Needs on Higher Tax Revenue Target

Finland has lowered its borrowing needs for 2017 due to a raised estimate for tax revenue included in the government's second supplementary annual budget proposal, the Finnish State Treasury said Friday.

It now sees a gross borrowing requirement of 21.6 billion euros ($25.4 billion), compared with EUR22.6 billion the previous quarter. The central government's net borrowing need has also been reduced by around EUR1 billion to EUR4.5 billion.

Consequently, estimated long-term funding for the year will be reduced to approximately EUR14 billion to EUR15 billion, the treasury said in its quarterly review. At the end of the previous quarter the range was EUR16 billion to EUR17 billion.

As of the end of September, approximately 80% of the targeted long-term funding for the year has been completed, it said.

The treasury added it plans to hold one or two tap auctions of existing bonds in the final quarter of the year.

Write to Emese Bartha at emese.bartha@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 29, 2017 03:46 ET (07:46 GMT)