Analytics, Economics, Estonia, GDP

Maris Lauri.

“This growth, however, will be caused by the growth in exports as consumer spending in Estonia will stay very modest and no growth is expected here,” she added.

Lauri pointed out various statistical indicators in the second quarter and noted that it demonstrates that while external demand is growing and businesses have managed to increase exports, domestic demand is still weak.

Hence the production of food, clothing industry and production of computers are the sectors in decline while other sectors are seeing an increase in production volumes.

Lauri stated that the increase in exports are due to extensive changes carried out in enterprises: by cutting costs, production operations have become more efficient. Entrepreneurs have also searched options to sell their products on other markets that grow faster than the traditional exports destinations.

Lauri expects the second-quarter economic growth number to be 2%. “The second half of the year should bring with it bigger growth numbers and then the preliminary effects of the adoption of the euro should also appear,” noted the analyst.