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Investments, which increased strongly in the first quarter, were financed first and foremost from the businesses' own funds and money borrowed from banks operating in Estonia, Taavi Raudsaar, economist at the central bank, said in a press release.

Raudsaar said that the volume of money received from abroad as own capital and debt capital increased moderately. Thanks to the acceleration of economic growth the debt burden of companies, or the proportion of debt liabilities and GDP, decreased somewhat.

The loan liabilities of households increased approximately at the same rate as incomes. Rising wages, low unemployment and low interest rates on loans all encouraged increased borrowing demand by households , and their loan liabilities increased by 6%. The volume of both housing and consumption loans from banks and loans from other lenders increased, Raudsaar said.

The rapid growth in incomes and extensive savings helped the sum total of cash and deposits of households to increase by more than 9% year over year. Besides, an increase by more than a quarter over the year was registered in the value of tradeable securities held by households . Despite the rapid growth, the financial savings of Estonian households are still below the European Union average in relation to incomes.

The Estonian economy was again a net lender to the rest of the world in the first quarter of this year -- Estonian residents have put more funds abroad than they have taken in from abroad. This is because Estonian households and companies have started to save more and regardless of the increase in the first quarter, the rate of fixed assets investments is relatively low.