OREANDA-NEWS. March 01, 2010. In the opinion of Prime Minister Andrus Ansip the third greatest challenge this year besides joining the euro zone and reducing unemployment is reversing the economic recession.

“We do not have to accept the forecast of the Ministry of Finance that says that in 2010 economic growth will be 0.1%," said the Prime Minister in his speech on the anniversary of the Republic in the Vanemuine Concert Hall in Tartu. According to Ansip, the Government can continue reforms in order to boost economic growth. “We can continue reforming education, public service, the tax system, retirement age, special pensions, law enforcement and elections," listed Ansip, assuring that all these reforms are on the table of the Riigikogu or the Government these days. According to the Prime Minister, these reforms serve to create a state that provides more effective public service and spends less of the taxpayer's money.

According to the Statistical Office, Estonia's GDP rose 2.6 percent in Q4 2009 in comparison with Q3, which is the highest growth rate in the European Union. The main factor increasing economic activity was export. According to Ansip, the Estonian economy is a typical export economy where the share of exports in the GDP is 75%.

“Estonian exporters have already been able to take advantage of the possibilities arising from improvement of the external environment," noted Ansip, and added that in the main target markets the market share of Estonian exporters has increased in comparison with competitors. According to the Head of Government, the impact of exporters on the Estonian economy will be much higher in the future than it has been in previous years. “Until we find oil or gold, our wealth will come from exporting companies,” said Ansip. According to the Prime Minister, we will be able to turn the economy to the path of growth this year if we continue nurturing trust and our exporters succeed.

The Head of Government reminded the audience that ten years ago the Estonian economy got the required boost mainly from investments from Scandinavia. Now we are back at the start of an economic growth phase. “Joining the euro zone will increase our trustworthiness. Our labour costs remain a third to a quarter that of Finland or Sweden. Estonia’s current account balance is in surplus,” listed Ansip, counting the strengths of the state. One of the key strengths of our state is its strong public finance: general government debt is the lowest in the European Union and the state budget deficit is one of the smallest in the European Union. We have nearly 25 billion kroons in reserves. “All this means that while other states will be repaying their burdensome loans, we can focus on new growth. Once the European economy starts rising again, we will start from the front row,” said Prime Minister Andrus Ansip in the anniversary speech.