The Prime Minister Of Finland Blames Apple For His Country's Economic Problems

In an interview with CNBC, the prime minister of Finland placed the blame for the country's recent economic downgrade on Apple.

The ratings agency Standard & Poor downgraded the credit rating for Finland's economy on Friday from a AAA rating to AA+, citing weak economic development as the reason. Finland has seen three years of declining GDP. It went on to change the economic outlook for the country from "stable" to "negative."

Speaking to CNBC, Finnish Prime Minister Alexander Stubb suggested that Apple could be to blame for the country's recent economic woes.

A little bit paradoxically I guess one could say that the iPhone killed Nokia and the iPad killed the Finnish paper industry, but we'll make a comeback.

Stubb explained that Finland had suffered two major economic blows: The downfall of Nokia, and the problems faced by the Finnish paper industry. He went on to explain that Finland had "two champions which went down."

Microsoft purchased ailing smartphone manufacturer Nokia in April 2014. Nokia's share of the mobile phone market had collapsed following competition from Apple and Android devices. Similarly, the Finnish paper industry has been struggling as consumers have moved away from traditional print publications to tablets and e-reader devices. It seems that the Finnish prime minister places the blame for both of these problems on the rise of Apple.