Baltic, Economics, Estonia, Investments

The investment situation was seen to have improved the most, while domestic consumption remains the driving force of the economy.

The principal obstacles to the development of the economy are shortage of skilled labor, insufficient international competitiveness and insufficient demand, deputy secretary general for economic development at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications Viljar Lubi said.

Addressing those problems is a priority for the ministry, Lubi said. The ministry will in the future pay more attention to the industrial sector where confidence levels are the lowest according to the EKI analysis.

The analysis did not take into account the possible effects of Britain's exit from the European Union because most analysts did not foresee it, EKI director Marje Josing said. The expert panel predicted that the investment situation would improve further and private consumption would remain at the same level in the second half of the year.