The Finnish government announced on Friday it had agreed on a stimulus package having an overall impact of 2 billion euros (about US$2.56 billion).

"The package will generate at least 25,000 man-years in employment. Overall GDP this year and next year combined will grow by approximately one percent. The fiscal stimulus impact, 1.7 percent of GDP, or 2 billion euros, brought about by the decisions concerning the budget and supplementary budget of 2009, will also rank the third largest in the EU Commission's comparison among the 27 member states," a statement released by the Finnish government said.

In accordance with the decisions made in conjunction with the supplementary budget, a total of 1.2 billion euros will be used to increase government expenditure and launch new projects.

The statement pointed out that lifting the social insurance contribution will produce an annual income reduction of 833 million euros in the future.

"The stimulus measures of the supplementary budget will weaken the balance in public finances by 912 million euros in 2009. The stimulus decisions made will raise the spending limits for 2009 by 216 million euros," it added.