In a blog post, the minister revealed that the state financing agency Finnvera will be granted three billion euros in guarantees for its new export financing programme.

As Urpilainen puts it, Finnvera will get "more muscle" to support Finnish export companies that are vying for orders.

A success in an individual bidding competition can mean that thousands of jobs are created or preserved in Finland, she notes.

The export credit agency Finnvera has been granted permission by the European Commission to support Finnish exports to Western industrialised countries through the end of this year.

Tax carrots in the offing

The Social Democratic minister added that a number of tax measures will be included in next year’s budget aimed at supporting corporate financing as well as research and development.

The debate over how to maintain Finland’s competitiveness has been reignited by the Swedish government's decision on Thursday to lower its corporation tax rate to 22 percent from the beginning of next year.

Earlier this month the World Economic Forum ranked Finland as the third most competitive economy after Switzerland and Singapore, with Sweden edging down into fourth place.