Economic Growth Predictions Waning
Ernst & Young (E&Y), an auditing company, downgraded Estonia's economic growth predictions for next year, citing declining exports resulting from the Eurozone debt crisis.
Having predicted 3.8 percent economic growth earlier in the fall, E&Y's new forecast for 2012 placed growth at 2.5 percent.
That prediction is still more optimistic than yesterday's prognosis from the Bank of Estonia - 1.9 percent growth. Fresh reports from SEB, Nordea and LHV have all predicted roughly 2 percent growth.
In contrast, the Finance Ministry's primary forecast, which was used to draw up the fresh 2012 budget, is expecting 3 percent growth.
For the Eurozone as a whole, E&Y predicted a light recession for the next six months and 0.1 percent growth for the whole of 2012.
The company also warned that the Greek economy would take an unprecedented plunge. Yeterday, the Greek government said its economic decline will be larger than the previously predicted 5.5 percent.
Ott Tammik