BONJOUR L'ESTONIE

Baltic households' purchasing capacity shows major increase in past 10 years

The average wage and pension in all three Baltic countries now exceeds the pre-crisis levels; although the purchasing power of workers and pensioners – adjusted for inflation – is still lower than before the crisis, it is nevertheless significantly higher than ten years ago, informs LETA.

In 2013, the actual average wage (with inflation taken into consideration) in Latvia was 57% higher than in 2003. Lithuania recorded a 52% increase and Estonia 50%, according to the latest survey of Baltic households by SEB banka.

The average purchasing power in the Baltic countries was rising quickly from 2003 to 2008, propelled by the countries' accession to the European Union, hopes that incomes in the region would reach the EU average level in the short run, optimistic expectations and the real estate bubble.

Wages in all three countries increased significantly during this period, with wages in Latvia and Lithuania growing faster than in Estonia. However, Latvia and Lithuania also experienced steeper falls in residents' purchasing capacity than Estonia during the crisis. Also, wages resumed growth in Estonia already in 2011, whereas in Lithuania, wages only began to increase after the crisis in 2013.

Saaremaa expects to be visited by more than 350,000 tourists in 2014

Estonia's largest island Saaremaa was visited by an estimated 350,000 tourists in 2013 and this year the islanders hope the number will grow, LETA/Public Broadcasting reports.

Kuressaare tourism information centre manager Karmen Paju said that tourists are already in Saaremaa. "It is interesting that while in the high season, we notice that there is the majority of Finns, but now they are more on the background. There are Germans, Italians around, the French and Australian have reached Saaremaa," explained Paju.

This year, Kuressaare offers daily sea trips for tourists and after many years, will thoroughly clean up the 2-kilometres long Mändjala beach near the city.

Paju said that over a half of the visitors of Saaremaa are today Estonian tourists. This year nearly 300 accommodation establishment with 6,000 beds are ready for tourists in the whole island.

The gender pay gap in Estonia increased slightly in 2013

According to Statistics Estonia, in October 2013, the gross hourly earnings of female employees were 24.8% lower than the gross hourly earnings of male employees, and the gender pay gap grew by 0.2 percentage points compared to the previous year. The gender pay gap was almost non-existent in transportation and storage.

The gross hourly earnings without irregular bonuses and premiums were 4.58 euros for female employees and 6.09 euros for male employees. Compared to 2012, hourly earnings increased 7.0% for female employees and 7.2% for male employees, which was one reason for the minimal rise in the gender pay gap. The biggest gender pay gap in Estonia was recorded in 1994 – 28.9%.

The gender pay gap was almost non-existent in transportation and storage. In this economic activity, female employees had 0.2% higher hourly earnings than male employees. Compared to 2012, the number of both male and female employees in transportation and storage decreased, but the hourly earnings increased 13.8% for women and 10.8% for men – this is why the pay gap has disappeared. The share of male employees among all employees in transportation and storage was 71%.

Estonia's labor costs among the lowest in EU

Average labor costs in Estonia were 9 euros per person per hour in 2013, up from 8.4 euros in 2012, according to Statistics Estonia.

In member states of the European Union a more than tenfold difference was recorded in hourly labor costs last year at 3.7 euros in Bulgaria.

The highest average labour costs were in Sweden at 40.1 euros, while the average for the EU28 was 23.7 euros.

Sweden was followed by Denmark with 38.4 euros per person per hour and Belgium with 38 euros.

Estonia posted the EU's fastest growth in average hourly labor costs per person in the final quarter of the year at 7.2 percent. In Latvia the annual rate of increase was 5.9 percent, in Lithuania 5.7 percent, in Bulgaria 4.3 percent and in Poland 3.9 percent.

Toomas Hõbemägi

Estonia to take EUR 172 mln from state companies as dividends

 The Estonian government is set to endorse 172 million euros as total dividends to be taken from state companies this year.

 The figure on the draft agenda of the government meeting is smaller by 10,000 euros than that envisaged in the 2014 state budget.

 The reduction is a result of a decision not to take dividend from the map maker AS Eesti Kaardikeskus, which needs money to finance investments.

 

After years of crisis, Estonians choose new homes based on long-term prospects

Held under the leadership of SEB last week, a meeting of real estate buyers and sellers in Estonia confirmed that someone buying a new home today must both carefully consider their family's actual needs and compare real estate offers that meet those needs before making a decision; often, a family will establish their borrowing capacity at the bank before even inspecting property for sale, the press service of the banking group SEB said in a statement.

According to real estate companies, home seekers will make a more appropriate and speedier choice if real estate developers, brokers and the bank all cooperate for the benefit of the client, cites LETA.

"Whereas after the downturn in the economy families were more cautious in planning purchases of new homes and were likelier to postpone making big financial decisions, the past couple of years have seen a noticeable increase in interest in purchasing new homes that suit families better. Compared to the so-called boom era from 2005 to 2007, the hallmark of those interested in new homes today is their significantly higher awareness. They will no longer latch on to the first real estate offer that comes their way. Fairly careful consideration is given to actual needs and comparisons are made of apartments / private residences meeting those needs", said Triin Messimas, Development Manager of Private Loans at SEB.

Number of people wishing to leave Estonia down by a third

Estonian Prime Minister Taavi Rõivas said in the Parliament’s Q&A session this week that the positive news was that the number of people who wish to leave Estonia has down by a third.

Rõivas said that there had been two major studies made in 2010 and 2013 on emigration of working-age people.

“The comparison of these two surveys shows that the number of people who wish to leave Estonia is fallen by a third in three years. This is very good news,” he said.

Rõivas said that the main reason why emigration from Estonia was slowing down was that wage levels in Estonia and in neighouring countries becoming more even.

According to the PM that one acute problem was to find employment for healthcare workers, such as nurses.

Toomas Hõbemägi

Helsinki and Tallinn launch initial tender for 50km tunnel

Competitive tendering has begun for a pre-feasibility study into a proposal to build a rail tunnel, or tunnel and bridge, between Helsinki and Tallinn.

Competitive tendering has begun for a pre-feasibility study to examine a proposal to build a tunnel, or tunnel and bridge, between Helsinki and Tallinn. The €100,000 (£83,000) pre-feasibility study, which is called Talsinkifix, will look into previous studies and propose further action.

The fixed Helsinki-Tallinn transport link would be some 50km long. The alternatives envisioned are for either a tunnel or a tunnel-bridge combination. The competitionhas been lauched by Helsinki in Finland together with the city of Tallinn and Harju County in Estonia.

The main question to be explored in the study is the financial viability of a fixed Helsinki-Tallinn transport link and its economic impact.  The study should be completed in the beginning of 2015.

A fixed transport link between Helsinki and Tallinn is expected to strengthen the competitiveness of the metropolitan areas of both Helsinki and Tallinn. The Helsinki-Tallinn link is already now included in the Estonian government’s national Estonia 2013 plans, in the Harju county plan and in the municipal plan of Viimsi, which is a borough in Harju County. The Helsinki city plan does not yet include the scheme.

Population of Estonian cities ages and decreases for the next 30 years

While the population of Tallinn, Tartu and Maardu will increase, the population of the rest of Estonian cities and towns with more than 10,000 inhabitants will age and decrease for the next 30 years, LETA/Public Broadcasting cites a study by Statistics Estonia.

Statistics Estonia analysed the population forecast of 14 Estonian cities and towns till 2040.

Statistics Estonia forecasts, that aside from Tallinn, Tartu and Maardu, the population in county centres will fall. In 25 years, the population of 5 of them, Haapsalu, Jõhvi, Võru, Valga and Kuressaare, will fall below the 10,000 inhabitants level.

The share of urban population will increase and that of rural decrease. While currently 59% of Estonian population lives in the 14 biggest Estonian towns, in nearly 30 years, the share will be 61%.

The importance of Tallinn and Tartu will grow most. While currently, 31% of the Estonian population lives in the capital Tallinn, in 2040, the figure will be 35%.

In 2040, Estonia is forecast to have 1,195,000 inhabitants, by a tenth less than now. The population will be considerably older than it is now, the number of births a year will fall.

Cost of food basket in Estonia at 20 years’ high

Estonian Institute of Economic Research (EKI) reported that its weekly basket of groceries for a family of four cost EUR 71.61 in March 2014.

It's the highest price for the food basket in the last twenty years, according to EKI.

The basket of groceries was EUR 1.15 more expensive than in December and EUR 2.05 more expensive than in March 2013.

Toomas Hõbemägi

Estonia among "World top Beauties"

The most beautiful women in the world live in Romania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Russia, and Colombia, according to a recent survey.

Bulgarian women are among the leaders in the Targetmap.com rating divided into five categories according to female attractiveness with 15 out of 17 points.

Central and Western Europeans as well as Americans have been voted less attractive. The bottom of the rating sees the women of Iraq and Afghanistan, among others.

Over 95% of taxpayers in Estonia filed tax returns electronically

95.4% of taxpayers in Estonia filed their tax returns electronically, an increase of 0.4% year on year, spokespeople for the Estonian Tax and Customs Board said.

All in all, tax returns for 2013 were filed by a total of 629,715 Estonian taxpayers.

Total number of people filing tax returns fell by 8,533 people in a year.

A total of 35,057 self-employed persons had to file their tax returns and 32,056 did it on time.

A round EUR 92 million in excess personal income tax is to be returned which is 6 million euros less than last year.

The sum total of tax that has to be additionally paid is 22.1 million euros and it is about the same amount as last year.

Tallinn Airport passenger number grew by 3.3% in March

148,745 thousand passengers were serviced by the Tallinn Airport in March 2014, a growth of 3.3% compared to March last year, LETA/Õhtuleht online reports.

147,669 passengers flew on foreign flights and 1,076 on domestic flights in March.

1,577 tonnes of cargo was handled by the airport in March, 4.6% more than in March last year.

3,019 flights took place via the airport, a fall of 2.8% in a year.

In the first quarter of this year, the number of passengers was up 1.4% at 381,813 passengers. The number of flights fell by 7.4% to 7,957 in the first quarter.

Port of Tallinn posts passenger record in Q1

In the first quarter of the year 2014, the Estonian state-owned port management company AS Tallinna Sadam (Port of Tallinn) handled 8.3 million tonnes of cargo, which is 7.5% more than at the same time last year while passenger number reached a record 1.8 million people, LETA/Postimees Online reports.

In the first three months of the year, Tallinna Sadam handled 8.3 mln tonnes of cargo, by 7.5% more than at the same time last year; the March cargo volume grew by 25% to 2.9 million tonnes year-on-year.

The biggest cargo group was in the first quarter liquid cargo with 6.1 million tonnes, which is by 7.5% more than in the same month last year. The volume of cargo transported in containers grew by 20.5% to 0.5 million tonnes in the first quarter and that of Ro-Ro goods by 10% to 0.9 million tonnes.

The ports administered by the company serviced 1.8 million passengers three months, which is by 4.2% more than at the same time last year. Tallinn-Helsinki route passenger number grew by 5.1% to 1.56 mln people, that on Tallinn-Stockholm route by 3.4% to 213,000.

In the first quarter, 552 cargo ships and 1,059 passenger ships used Port of Tallinn.

There are 369 built-up localities in Estonia

Based on the results of the 2011 Population and Housing Census (PHC) and the building data from the Estonian National Topographic Database, Statistics Estonia calculated built-up localities.

A built-up locality is a built-up area where the distance between buildings is no more than 200 metres and where there are at least 200 inhabitants. Hence, the borders of built-up localities do not coincide with those of settlement units. Based on the data from 2011, there are 369 such built-up areas in Estonia, where approximately 85% of the enumerated permanent residents live. By area and the number of inhabitants, the largest built-up locality is Tallinn, which, besides Tallinn city (excl. the city district of Pirita), includes the settlements of Tabasalu and Laagri.

The district of Pirita together with Viimsi and Maardu constitutes a separate locality, because there is a big piece of uninhabited land (Lillepi Park) between Tallinn and the Pirita–Maardu locality.

The next biggest locality, Tartu, is smaller by more than a quarter, both in terms of area and the number of inhabitants.

The smallest built-up locality by its number of inhabitants is the Ala locality in Valga county, and the smallest one by area, Ülenurme locality, situated next to Tartu.

The population is estimated by localities, because in line with changes in human habitation, quite a few built-up localities may over the years be divided into seveal areas or join another locality.

The statistics map application enables the users to observe the layout of settlements in 2011, but in the future, there will also be an option of comparing the distribution of the population with the localities calculated based on the results of the previous, 2000 Population and Housing Census.

Estonian smartphone sales rise in February

Handset sales totaled 26,000 units in Estonia in February, according to a study from GfK Retail and Technology. Smartphones' share of handset sales, in units, grew by 7.5 percent year-on-year.

Tele2 Estonia claims that the smartphone share jumped by 25 percent in its shops in February. Sales of Sony devices were a growth drive, with sales of the Sony Xperia M smartphone surging 900 percent month-on-month thanks to their joint promotion.

Some 7,600 conventional mobile handsets and 18,600 smartphones were sold in Estonia in February, according to the study. The average retail price of a moble phone was EUR 252, or EUR 205 in Tele2 Estonia branded shops. The handset sales volume in Estonia in February was EUR 5 million.

President Ilves appoints the new government of Estonia

Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves appointed on Wednesday the new Estonian government, LETA/Public Broadcasting reports.

The government was formed by prime minister, Reform Party member Taavi Rõivas.

The Reform Party and Social Democratic Party government includes also Reform Party members, Keit Pentus-Rosimannus as the environment minister, Urve Tiidus as the culture minister, Jürgen Ligi as the finance minister, Urmas Paet as the foreign minister, Hanno Pevkur as the interior minister, Urmas Kruuse as the health and labour minister and Anne Sulling as the foreign trade and entrepreneurship minister.

The Social Democrats to work in the government are party chairman Sven Mikser as defence minister, Jevgeni Ossinovski as education and science minister, Andres Anvelt as the justice minister, Urve Palo as the economy and infrastructure minister, Ivari Padar as the agriculture minister and Helmen Kütt as the social welfare minister.

The new government can work till the next Riigikogu elections that take place on March 1 next year.

The new government will give an oath of office to the Riigikogu Wednesday afternoon, after which the president will relieve the previous Andrus Ansip-led Reform Party and Pro Patria and Res Publica Union (Isamaa ja Res Publica Liit – IRL) government of its duties.

Transport prosecutors reveal contraband goods from Estonia

The Transport Prosecutor's Office revealed smuggled goods. The press service of the General Prosecutor's Office informs.  

According to its data, the criminal case was initiated under the Article 204 ("Contraband") and the Article 210 ("Evasion of customs payments") of the Criminal Code of the Kyrgyz Republic.

It is informed that a container of used car tires arrived from Estonia through the railway track at Alamedin state enterprise station of Kyrgyz Temir Zholy NC to the feet of "A.P." on March 1, 2014. According to the documents, the cargo weighted 18,370 tons and the State Customs Service employees entered the cargo. But while weighing the gross weight comprised 24,830 tons on March 6. The weight of the undeclared representatives of tires of the company was 6,460 tons.

As a result the state was made material damage at 528, 000,105 soms.

The criminal case was transferred to the investigation department of the State Customs Service for further investigation.

Problems of sustainability of pension system considered in Estonia

At the sitting of the State Budget Control Select Committee of the Riigikogu in Estonia, today the focus was on the audit report of the National Audit Office on the sustainability of the pension system of the state, reports LETA.

The Chairman of the Committee Mihhail Stalnuhhin said that a rapid reorganization of the pension system is very important in the light of the warning signals set out in the report of the National Audit Office.

"The audit report on the sustainability of the pension system requires decisive action because there is no time for delay. Obviously, the state needs a long-term plan in order to ensure the sustainability of the pension system," Stalnuhhin said. He referred to the tendency according to which the pensionable age is planned to be raised to 65 years until 2026. After that, the number of pensioners will begin to grow rapidly.

Estonian Air's passenger number down 9% in a year

Estonian national carrier Estonian Air carried close to 70,000 passengers in the first two months of the year which is 8.5% less than a year earlier.

In February, the airline carried 32,152 passengers, down from 32,613 a year before.

"Last year we had ten aircraft in our fleet and we were operating 20 percent more flights. Now we are operating regular flights with five and charter flights with two aircraft. At the same time the overall passenger level for two months is only 8 percent lower and on top of it, on a par with last February, which speaks of much improved efficiency of our operations," CEO Jan Palmer said in a comment.

Toomas Hõbemägi