Economic growth accelerated in the 2nd quarter

In the 2nd quarter of 2018, the Estonian GDP was 6.4 billion euros at current prices.

Seasonally and working-day adjusted GDP grew by 1.4% compared to the previous quarter. However, compared to the 2nd quarter of 2017, the seasonally and working-day adjusted GDP grew by 3.7%.

For the sixth quarter in a row, the main contributor to economic growth was the growth of value added in construction. It was followed by increasingly stronger manufacturing with the largest contribution in three years. Significant contributors to the growth were also professional, scientific and technical activities, transportation and storage and information and communication. The main activities to have a negative impact on the growth were agriculture, forestry and fishing, energy and administrative and support service activities.

Domestic demand grew by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Gross fixed capital formation, which fell by 0.8%, continues to negatively impact domestic demand. Slower investment activity was present in all asset types across the entire nonfinancial enterprises sector. At the same time, gross fixed capital formation grew in all other sectors. Final household consumption grew by 4.0%, which is similar to the growth in the previous quarter.

The exports of goods and services grew by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. The exports of goods recovered from the downturn in the 1st quarter and grew by 5.0%. This was mainly due to growth in the exports of computers, electronic and optical equipment, motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers and wood products. The fast growth in the exports of services was mostly influenced by computer services and services supporting transportation and storage. The imports of goods and services grew by 7.0% in the 2nd quarter, with the imports of services growing by 11.0%. The share of net exports in the GDP was 3.6% in the 2nd quarter of 2018.

In spite of faster economic growth, there was no significant growth in productivity. Productivity per hour worked grew only by 0.7%. Productivity per person employed grew by 1.0%. As a result of a slight slowdown in the growth of wages, the growth of unit labour cost was somewhat slower than in the 1st quarter when it was 4.3%.

As part of an annual regular revision, Statistics Estonia revised the national accounts data for 2014–2017 based on supply and use tables and annual reports of enterprises. The revised estimates for the 1st quarter of 2018 were also published.

Additional information about national accounts revisions in 2018 is available here.

For the statistical activity “National accounts”, the main representative of public interest is the Ministry of Finance, commissioned by whom Statistics Estonia performs this statistical activity.