According to Swedbank, the Estonian economy will return to growth in 2025 after a 0.8% contraction in 2024. GDP growth is projected at 1.5%, and in 2026 the economy may accelerate to 2.5%.
The main growth factors are export recovery and increased investment.
At the same time, household consumption in Estonia will remain relatively weak due to higher taxes and slower growth in real incomes. Inflation will reach 4% in 2025, which is higher than the euro area average. This is mainly due to tax policy and additional household spending.
Despite economic challenges, the labor market in Estonia remains resilient. The employment rate exceeds 69%, which is one of the highest in Europe. However, the rapid growth of wages is outpacing productivity growth, which poses additional risks to the competitiveness of the economy.
Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur, who arrived in Kyiv on a visit, expressed words of support for Ukraine and announced another aid package, including the Role 2 mobile field hospital, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said.
Pevkur assured that Estonia will help Ukraine win this war. He also announced another package of assistance to Ukraine, which will include important things for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, according to his statement, cited by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.
The Minister of Defense of Estonia said the new assistance package includes the Role 2 mobile field hospital, which will save the lives of Ukrainian defenders at the frontline. The symbolic key to the third hospital, transferred to Ukraine by Estonia, the Netherlands and Norway, Pevkur handed over to Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksiy Reznikov, the press service of the Ukrainian defense ministry said.
As Pevkur noted, the total amount of assistance to Ukraine from Estonia has already exceeded 1% of the GDP of this Baltic country. That is why the head of the Estonian Ministry of Defense called on other Western countries to follow the example of his country and increase assistance to Ukraine.
Pevkur said that recently, at the level of the countries of the European Union, Estonia initiated urgent support for the Ukrainian defense with one million 155-caliber artillery shells. It is going to do everything so that Ukraine receives more ammunition, equipment, equipment and other necessary assistance, he said.
According to the Defense Ministry press service, representatives of the Estonian defense department were presented with the logistics program LOGFAS – a system for recording, controlling the movement and end use of military equipment and property received from Western partners.
At the meeting, the defense ministers of the two countries discussed the issue of further consolidation of efforts to repel Russia’s armed aggression and the implementation of bilateral projects to strengthen the capabilities of the Ukrainian defense forces.
