Part 269

Flag description: pre-1940 flag restored by Supreme Soviet in May 1990 - three equal horizontal bands of blue (top), black, and white

Economy

Economy - 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 2% in 1995-96. Following four years of decline, Estonia's GDP grew at 3% in 1995 and 1996. Despite these positive economic indicators, the current account deficit is widening. The resident IMF representative in Estonia has been worried since early 1996 about a rising public sector deficit boosted by local government spending. Small- and medium-scale privatization is essentially complete, and large-scale privatization is progressing gradually. In 1996, Estonia's national airline was privatized; in 1997 Estonia plans to privatize large infrastructure, i.e., Eesti Energia, Tallinn Port, Estonian Telecom, and Oil Shale. Estonia has successfully reoriented its 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 - $8.1 billion (1996 estimate as extrapolated from World Bank estimate for 1994)

GDP - real growth rate: 3% (1996 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $5,560 (1996 est.)

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 10% industry: 37% services : 53% (1993 est.)

Inflation rate - consumer price index: 23% (1996 est.)

Labor force: total: 750,000 (1992) by occupation: industry and construction 42%, agriculture and forestry 20%, other 38% (1990)

Unemployment rate: 5% (1996 official 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: 3% (1996 est.)

Electricity - capacity: 3.29 million kW (1994)

Electricity - production: 8.6 billion kWh (1994)

Electricity - consumption per capita: 4,005 kWh (1995 est.)

Agriculture - products: potatoes, fruits, vegetables; livestock and dairy products; fish

Exports: total value: $2 billion (f.o.b., 1996) commodities: textiles 16%, food products 16%, machinery and equipment 16%, metals 9% (1995) partners: Finland, Russia, Sweden, Germany, Latvia (1995)

Imports: total value : $3.1 billion (c.i.f., 1996) commodities: machinery and equipment 29%, foodstuffs 14%, minerals 13%, textiles 13%, metals 12% (1995) partners: Finland, Russia, Sweden, Germany (1995)

Debt - external: $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 - 12.6 (January 1997), 12.410 (December 1996), 12.034 (1996), 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

@Estonia:Communications

Telephones: 400,000 (1994 est.)

Telephone system: system is antiquated; improvements are being made piecemeal, with emphasis on business needs and international connections; there are still about 150,000 unfulfilled requests for subscriber service domestic : substantial investment has been made in cellular systems which are operational throughout Estonia international: international traffic is carried to the other former Soviet republics by landline or microwave radio relay and to other countries partly by leased connection to the Moscow international gateway switch and partly by a new Tallinn-Helsinki fiber-optic, submarine cable which gives Estonia access to international circuits everywhere; access to the international packet-switched digital network via Helsinki

Radio broadcast stations: 3 commercial broadcast stations, 1 government broadcast station (1994)