In accordance with the Interest Rates Act (340/2002), the reference rate is 1.0% for the period 1 January – 30 June 2013. The penalty interest rate for the same period is thus 8.0% pa (under the Act, the reference rate plus seven percentage points).
Under the Interest Rates Act, the reference rate used in defining the penalty rate is the interest rate applied in the last main refinancing operation of the European Central Bank prior to the first calendar day of the half-year in question, rounded up to the nearest one-half percentage point. Such reference rate is effective for the following six-month period.
For further information, please contact the Bank of Finland’s Communications, phone +358 10 195 701.