OREANDA-NEWS. July 18, 2014. Implementing a new accounting system in the European Union is estimated to bring about an average of 2.4 percent rise in all member states’ gross domestic product.

In September, all European Union countries will switch from the European System of National and Regional Accounts (ESA 1995) to ESA 2010, which could potentially lead to an increase in EU countries’ GDPs by an average of 2.4 percent, writes Eesti Paevaleht.

The most significant change in ESA 2010, which will directly influence Estonia, is in the research and development expenditures. R&D expenditures were taken into account as expenses beforehand, whereas with the new system they will be addressed as investments.

Preliminary calculations predict that this change will increase the weighted average GDP growth by 1.9 percent.