Economic growth slowed down in the 2nd quarter

In the 2nd quarter of 2019, the Estonian GDP was 7.1 billion euros at current prices.

The seasonally and working day adjusted GDP grew 0.4% compared to the previous quarter. Compared to the 2nd quarter of 2018, the seasonally and working day adjusted GDP increased 3.8%.

The biggest contributor to economic growth was information and communication, where the value added increased faster than ever. Professional, scientific and technical activities, wholesale and retail trade and manufacturing also contributed significantly. Similarly to information and communication, the contribution of professional, scientific and technical activities to economic growth was the biggest in the past 15 years. For the second consecutive quarter, the only significant negative impact on the economic growth came from electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply.

Domestic demand increased 5.7% in the 2nd quarter. This growth was driven by investments, which increased 24.6%. The major contributions to the growth were investments made by non-financial enterprises into buildings and structures, and into transport equipment. Households’ investments into dwellings contributed notably as well. The only negative contribution to investment was that of the government sector. Private consumption grew modestly — by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter.

The exports of goods and services grew 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. The export of goods increased 3.7%, with the biggest contribution coming from computers, electronic and optical equipment.  The exports of services experienced a slight decline (-0.5%), which was mainly due to the modest sales of storage and support services for transportation and travel services. The imports of goods and services grew 5% however. The import of goods grew 5.8%, largely thanks to imports of motor vehicles, trailers and semitrailers. The imports of services growth stayed at 2.6%. The share of net exports in GDP was 3.4% in the 2nd quarter of 2019.

In the 2nd quarter, the number of employed persons and the number of hours worked both remained at the same level as in the previous quarter. As a result, the productivity per person employed increased 3.8% and the productivity per hours worked 3.9%. The growth of unit labour cost increased 7.3% under the wage growth pressure.

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.

Statistics Estonia revised the national accounts time series for the period from 1995 onwards. More information on the revision can be found here.