OREANDA-NEWS. July 25, 2012. At the end of the first quarter of 2012, the stock of corporate debt was about 1% larger than a year ago, reported the press-centre of Eesti Pank. 

The stock of corporate domestic and external loans and issued debt securities grew by more than 100 million euros during the quarter, making up 15.4 billion euros. The majority of the growth was due to the increase in debt instruments included from abroad. However, the structure of debt liabilities did not change much - loans from abroad still accounted for a third of corporate total debt. As a ratio of GDP, corporate indebtedness remained at the last year-end's level of 95%. The nearly 5% annual growth in corporate financial assets in the first quarter was for the most part due to the growing value of equity investments, which reflected the relatively good profitability of Estonia's companies.

The financial standing of households improved owing to an increase in savings and a decrease of their debt burden. The annual growth in household savings (that is, deposits and cash held by households) made up 15% at the end of the first quarter. Along with the continued shrinkage in households' debt, this has resulted in a more balanced financial standing, which reduces their vulnerability to possible risks from the external environment. Household indebtedness (that is the ratio of their debt to GDP) declined to 46% by the end of the first quarter.

Estonia's total economy has been a net lender vis-a-vis the rest of the world for the past three years. In the first quarter of 2012, the net lending of Estonia's total economy made up 72 million euros, accounting for 2% of GDP. The positive balance was mainly due to the prudent financial behaviour of households. The general government sector was a net borrower in the same period, due to allocations of the EU structural funds.