STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Monday, 29 October 2012

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30. Finns find food for thought in theorised exit strategy

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2012/1029/1224325865544.html

IN THE past couple of years, as the euro zone woes have unfolded, international investors have been transfixed by one small country on the edge of the region: Greece. They would do well to keep watching another tiddler: Finland.

For while Finland has not created much drama, precisely because it is one of the strongest euro zone members, some fascinating discussions are under way. Most notably, as the euro zone crisis rumbles on, some Finnish business and government officials are quietly mulling the logistics of leaving the currency union.

Nobody in Finland expects this to happen soon, if ever; indeed, most policymakers are strongly opposed to the idea.

But as Heikki Neimelainen, chief executive of the Municipal Guarantee Board, says: “We have started openly discussing the mechanism of euro exiting, without indicating that we will initiate such a process.” And this, in turn, is sparking some curious economic debates.