Economy
Economic overview:
Estonia continues to experience strong economic growth after its economy bottomed out in 1993. Bolstered by a widespread national desire to reintegrate into Western Europe, Estonia has adhered to disciplined fiscal and financial policies and has led the FSU countries in pursuing economic reform. Monthly inflation has been held to under 5% since the beginning of 1992, with monthly inflation in 1995 at 2%. Following four years of decline, Estonia's GDP grew 5% in 1994 and 6% in 1995 - among the highest rates in Europe, according to estimates of the IMF and Estonia's own Economic Ministry. Despite these positive economic indicators, unemployment - 8% in 1994 - is on the rise, and wages - especially for teachers and law enforcement personnel - have not kept pace with inflation. Small- and medium-scale privatization is essentially complete, and large-scale privatization is progressing, but slowly. Estonia has successfully reoriented it trade toward the West, two-thirds of exports now going to Western markets. Estonia's free trade policies were the cornerstone of its negotiations with the European Union, and led to the signing of an association agreement in June 1995. Estonia was the only Baltic state not to have a transition period imposed by the EU prior to its implementation of a free trade agreement.
GDP:
purchasing power parity - $12.3 billion (1995 estimate as extrapolated from World Bank estimate for 1994)
GDP real growth rate:
6% (1995 est.)
GDP per capita:
$7,600 (1995 est.)
GDP composition by sector:
agriculture:
10%
industry:
37%
services:
53% (1993 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
29% (1995 est.)
Labor force:
750,000 (1992)
by occupation:
industry and construction 42%, agriculture and forestry 20%, other 38% (1990)
Unemployment rate:
8% (1994 est.)
Budget:
revenues:
$620 million
expenditures:
$582 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (January-October 1995)
Industries:
oil shale, shipbuilding, phosphates, electric motors, excavators, cement, furniture, clothing, textiles, paper, shoes, apparel
Industrial production growth rate:
NA%
Electricity:
capacity:
3,420,000 kW
production:
11.3 billion kWh
consumption per capita:
6,528 kWh (1993)
Agriculture:
potatoes, fruits, vegetables; livestock and dairy products; fish
Illicit drugs:
transshipment point for illicit drugs from Central and Southwest Asia and Latin America to Western Europe; very limited illicit opium producer; mostly for domestic consumption
Exports:
$1.8 billion (f.o.b., 1995)
commodities:
textile 14%, food products 11%, vehicles 11%, metals 11% (1993)
partners:
Russia, Finland, Sweden, Germany
Imports:
$2.5 billion (c.i.f., 1995)
commodities:
machinery 18%, fuels 15%, vehicles 14%, textiles 10% (1993)
partners:
Finland, Russia, Germany, Sweden
External debt:
$270 million (January 1996)
Economic aid:
recipient:
ODA, $147 million (1993)
note:
Western commitments $285 million (including international financial institutions)
Currency:
1 Estonian kroon (EEK) = 100 cents (introduced in August 1992)
Exchange rates:
krooni (EEK) per US$1 - 11.523 (December 1995), 11.465 (1995), 12.991 (1994), 13.223 (1993); note - krooni are tied to the German deutsche mark at a fixed rate of 8 to 1
Fiscal year:
calendar year
