OREANDA-NEWS. March 10, 2010. On the basis of a recent Finance Ministry assessment the Estonian government sector deficit last year was 1.7 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP).

It is the Finance Ministry's assessment of the government sector deficit in 2009, which is based on preliminary data of the state accounts. On March 26 Statistics Estonia will publish the final data on the basis of which official meeting of the Maastricht criteria will be calculated.

Finance Minister Jurgen Ligi told reporters at a goverment press conference that the shortfall of 3.7 billion kroons (EUR 236 mln) means that more was economized than there was hope for by the measures taken for the purpose. Among other things, the fact that the figure is smaller than earlier assessments is partly because the public sector is not used to assess its deficit very precisely.

Prime Minister Andrus Ansip added that the shortfall, expressed as the final percentage, depended on the updated indication of the gross domestic product by the statistical office.

Ansip added that he couldn't be satisfied with the local governments shortfall of 1.4 billion kroons, of which one billion was generated by two local governments, Tallinn and Parnu. "Although 1.7 percent of GDP is one of the best indicators in the European Union it is still a deficit. Public sector expenditures still stand higher than revenues and such a situation cannot continue long," Ligi said. "The budget surplus must be restored in the next few years."