At the same time, global competition and productivity increases have kept price increases of manufactured export and import goods in check, containing inflationary impulses from strong demand. Inflation targeting and successful fiscal consolidation together with Finland's entry into the EU in 1995 all contributed to the fact that low inflation had become expected and accepted already before the beginning of EMU.
These include need for higher provisioning requirements due to deterioration in asset quality, phased implementation of Basel III Capital norms, capital required to cover additional risk areas under the risk based supervision framework as also the need to expand the business and meet the likelihood of higher credit demand going forward.