Estonia’s GDP totalled EUR 9.42bn at current prices in the the second quarter of 2023, which was up 5.1% from the same period of 2022, according to data from Statistics Estonia, ERR reports. Real GDP fell by 2.9% over a year, however. Compared to the first quarter of 2023, seasonally adjusted real GDP decreased by…
Estonia’s GDP will decline by 1.8% in 2023 and grow by 1.5% in 2024, according to SEB Bank’s latest forecast, ERR reports. The average unemployment rate will reach 6.5% in 2023 and 6.9% in 2024, the bank projects. Mihkel Nestor, chief economist at SEB, noted that the outlook for the Estonian economy has deteriorated in…
Estonia’s Prime Minister, Kaja Kallas, has refused to attend a joint session of the state budget and the anti-corruption select committees of the Estonian parliament, the Riigikogu, on 29 August 2023, ERR reports. The committees will hold an extraordinary joint meeting to discuss the operations of Estonian businesses in Russia. Kallas has come under heavy…
Most Estonians want Prime Minister Kaja Kallas to resign amid a scandal involving her husband, according to polls, ERR reports. In a Norstat survey for the Institute of Social Research (YI), 57% of respondents said that Kallas should resign, while 31% said that she should provide an explanation but could continue as prime minister. Another…
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas is under pressure after ERR revealed that Keila-based logistics company Stark Logistics, in which her husband, Arvo Hallik, owns nearly 25% of shares, has continued to do business in Russia. Stark Logistics has shipped metal containers manufactured by Tallinn-based Metaprint to Russia. The majority owner of both Metaprint and Stark Logistics…
Estonia’s producer price index (PPI) of industrial output fell by 3.2% on year in July 2023, according to Statistics Estonia’s data, ERR reports. Compared to June 2023, the PPI fell by 1.0%. Producer prices fell by 1.1% over a year in manufacturing but rose by 5.8% in food production. Export prices declined by 3.0% and…
The European Commission (EC) demands hundreds of thousands of euros in fines from Estonia for late implementation of two EU directives, ERR reports. Estonia has failed to transpose the so-called whistleblower directive into national law by December 2021. Also, the EC has initiated infringement procedures against Estonia over the European Competition Network (ECN+) directive, which…
The Estonian nation has never been extinguished despite having once lost independence through occupation and oppression, Estonia’s President, Alar Karis, stated, ERR reports. Speaking on Estonia’s 32nd Independence Restoration Day, Karis said that the Estonian state was founded on “liberty, justice, and the rule of law,” in that order. He said that freedom constituted the…
Officials from Estonia’s Ida-Virumaa county are considering the possibility of establishing a direct flight connection with southeastern Finland, ERR reports. Local officials from Narva, Narva-Jõesuu, and Sillamäe took a test flight from an airfield outside Narva to Pyhtää airport (Helsinki-East Aerodrome) in Finland. Esa Korjula, CEO of Pyhtää airport’s operator, Redstone Aero, and Terhi Lindholm,…