Baltic Tiger

Baltic Tiger is a term used to refer to any of the three Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania – during their periods of economic boom, which started after the year 2000 and continues to the present. The term is modelled on Four Asian Tigers and Celtic Tiger, which were used to describe the economic boom periods in parts of East Asia and the Republic of Ireland, respectively.

After 2000, the Baltic Tiger economies implemented important economic reforms and liberalisation, which, coupled with their fairly low-wage and skilled labour force, attracted large amounts of foreign investment and economic growth. Between 2000 and 2006, the Baltic Tiger states had the highest growth rates in Europe, and this is continued in 2007. In 2006, for example, Estonia grew by 11.2% in gross domestic product, while Latvia grew by 11.9% and Lithuania by 7.5%. All three countries by February 2006 saw their rates of unemployment falling below average EU values. Additionally, Estonia is among the ten most liberal economies in the world and in 2006 switched from being classified as an upper-middle income economy to a high-income economy by the World Bank. All three countries joined the European Union in May 2004, and all three are slated to adopt the euro at some point around 2010.

The Baltic economies are predicted to continue growing at a high annual rate of 5-10% until at least 2010. In the 2000-2010 decade, gross domestic product is expected to rise dramatically, similar to what happened in Ireland during its 1990s economic boom. While their GDP per capita is currently at approximately 60-75% of the European Union average, they are expected to rapidly converge in income, even though EU average income is not expected to be reached in the near future. Even their present status at approximately 65% of the EU average is a remarkable improvement in such a short time, considering that in 1999, Latvia and Lithuania had a GDP per capita at only 25% of the EU average.

One negative characteristic of the Baltic states' economic growth has been a substantial growth in the current account deficit and external imbalances. This has led some economists to predict a risk for a "hard landing" scenario and financial crises in Latvia and Estonia. On the other hand, central banks in both countries have reserves exceeding the M1 money supply and the biggest private banks are owned by solvent Scandinavian giants.

Estonian government has remained especially confident and highly optimistic. It derives at least some part its optimism and confidence from its financial reserves, which exceeded a 10% of GDP mark by the end of 2006 and which will be further increased by an approximately 3.6% of GDP surplus in the 2007 budget. Estonia's public debt is currently just 3.6% of GDP, which is the lowest in the EU and one of the lowest in the whole world. The 2008 budget is planned to produce a 1.5% of GDP surplus.

tatistics

Annual GDP growth rate

GDP per capita

In international dollars, at purchasing power parity (PPP).

ee also

*Celtic Tiger
*Four Asian Tigers
*Tatra Tiger