HELSINKI, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- OP Financial Group, one of the largest financial companies in Finland, said Finnish economic growth would keep its strong path in 2018.

In its economic outlook published on Monday, OP Group upgraded its forecast for the Finnish economy this year from 3.0 percent 3.3 percent, while the growth trend is expected to slow to 2.3 percent in 2019.

"Although growth is decelerating next year, the peak of economic activity is still unclear. Growth is faster than anticipated for a long period of time, and the unemployment rate continues to decline," said Reijo Heiskanen, chief economist of OP Group.

The financial group predicted that the rise of exports would be driven by improved competitiveness, strong demand, and investment performance in 2018.

Private consumption is anticipated to continue increasing with the support of positive employment trends, which are set to quickly accelerate.

The unemployment rate is to fall to 7.8 percent in 2018 from 8.2 percent in 2017, and the financial balance of the Finnish economy will continue to improve, said the group.

The financial group pointed out that the greatest risk for the economic outlook for the next a few years would be the increase in uncertainty in the financial markets.

After three consecutive years of negative growth, the Finnish economy finally started to show some signs of recovery in 2015. Since 2016, the economy has grown gradually and achieved a bullish growth.