Economic growth needs competent domestic ownership society

The domestic ownership programme presents a vision of a Finnish ownership society in 2030 where ownership is widely appreciated and ownership is considered a common good, said a working group led by lawmaker Juha Sipilä in its report submitted to Minister of Economic Affairs Mika Lintilä on Wednesday, said the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment in a press release.

The task of the working group was to identify means to strengthen, diversify, and promote equality in the Finnish ownership of companies.

The working group proposed about 70 measures to be implemented in the short or long term.

Some of the proposed measures are related to the current challenges faced by companies and households. The majority of the proposals, however, aim to make the Finnish society and people considerably stronger than that at present to meet the challenges of the future.

“Finland’s economic growth and success are in our own hands. Through competent domestic ownership we can promote productivity and investments. In the end, what ownership is all about is ways to finance the welfare society, that is, the citizens’ wellbeing and future,” said Minister of Economic Affairs Mika Lintilä.

“Economic growth is an absolute necessity to ensure the services of our welfare society. This, in turn, requires a strong ownership society where we should have even larger numbers of competent owners. To strengthen the equity capital that serves as the stabilising keel and facilitator of growth for business, we must have committed ownership and remove the bottlenecks in financing. Fortunately, economic and productivity growth and, through these, the wellbeing of us Finns are in our own hands,” said Juha Sipilä, chair of the working group, also a former prime minister.

The aim of the programme is that people would regard saving, investing, and ownership as natural elements of their lives. The working group proposes that the equity savings account would be further developed, e.g., by raising the maximum amount of funds to be invested in the account to EUR 100,000. People are also encouraged to save for retirement on a voluntary basis by owning shares.

The working group heard more than a hundred experts and held six regional consultations on the theme ‘towards responsible domestic ownership’. A total of 24 organisations sent their comments in writing, and several online surveys were organised to get the views of companies, other stakeholders, and private citizens.