HELSINKI (AP) — Finland has denied media claims that the Nordic country's basic income experiment has fallen flat and that the government wouldn't consider expanding it.

Government social affairs official Miska Simanainen said Wednesday that the trial, where about 2,000 unemployed people aged 25-58, are being paid a tax-free 560-euro ($680) monthly income with no questions asked "is proceeding as planned."

The 20 million-euro program, which seeks to reform Finland's social security system, ends in December after which Prime Minister Juha Sipila's center-right government will assess initial results.

Media reports have said the government social affairs agency has requested up to 70 million euros in extra funding this year, something that Simanainen says is a false claim.

Finland became the first country in Europe to start the basic income experiment in January 2017.