GDP Growth Hits 7.9% in Third Quarter
Flash estimates released from Statistics Estonia on November 11 put Estonia's third-quarter GDP growth at 7.9 percent, generally continuing the same fast-paced growth seen since the beginning of the year.
Compared to the second quarter, seasonally and working-day adjusted GDP was up by 0.8 percent.
The third-quarter figure marks a slight drop from the 8.5 percent and 8.4 percent growth seen in the first two quarters of this year, which were the highest in the EU.
Analysts from the Bank of Estonia, Finance Ministry and commercial bank analysts have universally predicted that the growth would slow significantly next year.
On November 10, the European Commission warned that changes in foreign trade, triggered by the Eurozone debt crisis, could significantly impact Estonia's economic growth, which has been to a large extent been fueled by manufacturing exports. The commission's estimate put the country's 2012 GDP growth at 3.2 percent.
Indeed the deceleration of year-on-year GDP growth seen between the second and third quarters was linked to slower growth in manufacturing of computers, electronic and optical products, Statistics Estonia said, noting that export growth in general had been less robust than it was at the beginning of the year.
At the same time, the country's GDP growth has been becoming more broad-based, with the construction, information and communication sectors making more of a contribution.
Steve Roman