Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Estonian crisis worse than 1998-1999

Estonian Institue of Economic Research just published its October survey results and now the picture in industry and construction has turned gloomier than it ever has been (since 1993, when the surveys were started).
Current order books (both local and export) for industry stands at historical low and forecast for employment during next three months is very close to that. It is good to remember that during the previous crisis the unemployment jumped from 9,6% in 1997 to 13,6% in 2000.
In construction, the overall confidence index is at its all time low. And the trend is certainly downwards - more and more companies see the next 3 months to be worse than previous and plan to shed workforce.
The mood among consumers and retail sector is somewhat rosier, although the trend is also downward there.
My conclusion from this? Unemployment is definitely going up, with new round of negative effects for retail sector and mortgage loans.

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