ABSTRACT
The interstate framework of the Finnish-Soviet economic and trade relations is a special mixture of elements of a centrally planned economy and of a market economy. One of the most important real functions of the Licensing Office and of the entire internal institutional system of Finnish-Soviet trade is to act as a kind of isolating layer between trade pursued with the Soviet Union on the one hand, and Finland's Western economic relations on the other. The countervalue of deliveries is booked in a central account at the Foreign Trading Bank in the Soviet Union, and at the Bank of Finland. The long-term and annual trade agreements provide the Finnish firms with fundamental information on the Soviet markets and buying intentions. The economic relations of the countries are based upon bilateral accounts, which imply that, theoretically, the Soviet party has to keep the volume and balance of trade within the limits set in the interstate agreement, just the same as Finland.
