Majority of political parties say they'd support government bond issue
Estonia could be an exception in the European Central Bank's quantitative easing program as it has not issued its own bonds. But now the majority of political forces in Estonia say government bonds could be one way to go.
IRL's Sven Sester said state bonds are similar to loans, “The need for money should be reviewed first, then the different instruments should be weighed. We have never said government bonds are evil."
“Instead of austerity and increasing taxes, the Estonian economy could be livened up in a similar way to the rest of Europe – with moderate loans. Now we are in a situation where there is a danger of some loans being forgiven, Estonia is the only one who will not benefit from this policy,” Center Party's Kadri Simson said.
Mart Helme, of the Conservative People's Party, said the idea would be acceptable if that money raised stayed in Estonia.
Social Democrat Rannar Vassiljev said it would be more sensible for Estonia to emit its own bonds, instead of buying Finnish, German or Dutch bonds.
“Estonia has never had a problem finding loans, or that too many loans have been taken out. For that reason we do not see the need to issue state bonds currently,” Reform Party's Arto Aas said, adding that Estonia's economy does not have problems which can be solved by big loans.
Margus Maidla, of the Free Party, said government bonds should be postponed until 2020, when the current EU financial period ends and there will be a gap in EU spending.
The quantitative easing program means Estonia will have to buy three billion euros' worth of bonds during the next 18 months.
The idea is for central banks to increase the amount of money or electronic money, which will be used to buy government bonds.
Editor: J.M. Laats