In March the retail sales turned to downfall

According to Statistics Estonia, in March 2008 compared to March of the previous year the retail sales of goods of retail trade enterprises decreased 4% in constant prices. The growth of retail sales showed a slight increase in February but turned to downfall in March.

In March, the retail sales of goods of retail trade enterprises [...]

Estonia Issuing Finnish Visas in Pskov, Minsk

Under an agreement on representation, Estonia will start issuing Finnish visas to local residents at its representations in the Russian regional capital Pskov and in Minsk, the capital of Belarus.
Starting from last month, Finland represents Estonia in the issuing of visas in ten countries, namely Indonesia, Namibia, Peru, the Philippines, Serbia, Syria, Thailand, Tanzania, Tunesia [...]

Estonian citizens can travel to Colombia visa-free

Estonian citizens will be able to travel to Colombia without a visa starting from 1 May this year.
A unilateral decision to this effect was adopted by the Colombian government at the end of March, spokespeople for the Estonian Foreign Ministry said.
Estonians will be allowed to enter Colombia without a visa for the purpose of short-term [...]

A Baltic boom

By Eric Jansson, published at The Financial Times
For real estate developers who think big, central Tallinn has become a claustrophobic place. The property boom that energised the Baltic country after it joined the European Union in 2004 also made the centre of this city of 400,000 a more cramped place for developers to work.
Space was [...]

In February the foreign trade deficit decreased

According to Statistics Estonia, in February 2008 compared to February a year ago the exports of goods increased and the imports remained on the same level. The trade deficit was the smallest during the previous two years.

In February 2008 the exports in current prices was 10.4 billion kroons and the imports was 13.2 billion kroons. [...]

A company develops Estonian version of YouTube

Estonian company TimeOut Solutions is developing a new application that is similar to YouTube.  Mart Luik, new CEO of TimeOut, said that the plan is to launch the solutions by the end of this year. He said it was too early to discuss the applications in detail, but said that they were going to be [...]

Tax cuts threaten to tear up the ruling coalition

The issue of whether to freeze the planned tax cuts could break up the ruling coalition of Reform Party, IRL and Social Democrats. Äripäev writes that although Prime Minister and the main advocate of tax cuts Andrus Ansip (Reform Party) claims that the idea of proposing to freeze the planned tax cuts is buried, Finance [...]

Eesti Telekom Sees Increase in Profit

In the first three months of this year Eesti Telekom earned a net profit of 452 million kroons, 2.8 percent more year on year.  Eesti Telekom’s net profit per share was 3.27 kroons in Q1 2008.
Operating profit of the group increased by 2.8 percent to 436 million kroons in the first three months of this [...]

Bronze Soldier cost Estonia EUR 450 million

A year after a furious row over the relocation of a Soviet war memorial in Tallinn, a government study says Estonia has lost Russian business worth an estimated EUR 450 million, or nearly 3 pct of its gross domestic product, International Herald Tribune writes.

The impact was especially strong at the Port of Tallinn, where state-of-the-art [...]

The growth of overdue loans slowed in March

Jana Kask, Head of the Financial Sector Policy Division of Eesti Pank
In March, the corporate and household loan and leasing stock increased by 2.6 billion kroons. The annual growth rate declined from 27% to 25%. The volume of loans added during the first three months of 2008 was 50% smaller year-on-year and remained also [...]