エストニア経済ニュース

●電子居住権，誕生から1年半

E-Residency project as a start-up company. 1.5 years after the birth of e-residency program, Estonia has 9700 new e-residents. Applications have been submitted from 128 different countries. Most non-EU e-residents are from Russia, USA and Ukraine. E-residents have created 500 companies in Estonia. It is difficult to calculate the costs that are related to the project: besides Enterprise Estonia and Ministry of Economy, it involves officials from Ministry of Interior Affairs, Security Police, Police and Border Guard and elsewhere. Taavi Kotka commented that he is the only person in the Ministry of Economy, who deals with the topic of e-residency, using 15-17% of his working time for it. E-residency project manager Kaspar Korjus has a budget of 800 000 euros for his team to cover development, communication, risk-management and legislation costs. Korjus considers public sector to be the main obstacle in the development of the program. Legislative changes are much slower than they could. Possibility of opening a bank account remotely or allowing boards of the companies to be physically located abroad are necessities that have been pointed out long time ago. (Äripäev, page 4-5, April 1, 2016)
 

●バスチケット・システム，グリーンランドへ輸出

Developer of smart public transportation systems Ridango signed a contract for 500 000 euros with a public transportation provider of the capital of Greenland. The developed system will be an improvement of the very successful ticket-sales system that Ridango has applied in Tallinn and Tartu and Gotland and Västeras in Sweden. The new ticket system will be applied starting from September 1. (Eesti Päevaleht, page 21, April 5, 2016)
 

●今年成長率2％の予測

The spring economic forecast by the Ministry of Finance predicts economic grow of 2% this year and 3% percent in 2017, which is more pessimistic than autumn prediction by 0.6 and 0.4 percentage points. The reason for decreased prediction is weaker growth potential of Finland and Russia. State’s budget forecast that is completed in the end of April is based on these results, which means that the government needs to re-evaluate the expenses more critically. Additionally the government recently decreased the environmental fees of oil-shale industry and should carefully evaluate the dividend capacity of 14 state-owned companies, including Estonian Energy. Currently 0.14% structural budget deficit is foreseen for 2018. Growth factors are predicted to shift from domestic consumption to export due to Estonia’s growing export to neighboring countries. Growth rate of salaries remains fast, reaching 4.9% this year. (Äripäev, page 8-9, April 6, 2016)
 

●雇用費用，バルト各国で上昇

According to Eurostat data Baltic States have the fastest growth of employment expenses in euro-zone. Employment expenses increased by 7.3% in Latvia, 5.6% in Lithuania, and 5.3% in Estonia. Average growth of employment expenses was 2.0% in EU and 1.5% in euro-zone. Analysts have warned Estonia that the fraction of employment expenses in turnover has increased, and while productivity has not grown proportionally, profitability decreases. Swedbank analyst Tõnu Mertsina commented that salaries keep fast growth in Estonia, because there is a shortage of work-force. (Äripäev, page 14, April 6, 2016)
 

●過去6年間で最低の成長率（昨年＋1．1％）

According to the Bank of Estonia, Estonian economic growth decelerated in 2015, being the slowest during the past 6 years. Slow growth was caused by weak economy in several neighboring countries and modest export possibilities. At the same time domestic consumption increased fast thanks to the increase in income and purchasing power. Increased average income is caused by higher minimum salary, salary agreements in education and health care and decrease of working-age population and free work-force. The profits of the companies decreased by 8% in 2015. (Äripäev, page 6, April 7, 2016)
 

●三菱商事との排出取引によるEV，今でも現役

Estonian first Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric cars, acquired from the CO2 quota program, are still working well. In 2011, following  the agreement that the government concluded with Mitsubishi Corporation for the sales of 10 million quota units, Estonian social workers received in total 424 electric cars that were especially tuned to tolerate cold climate. Usage agreements of the cars ended on 31 December 2015, after which Ministry of Social Affairs decided to hand the cars over to their users, who continue using them for social work. (April 8, 2015, Postimees.ee)
 

●ロシア，エストニア経由の鉄道輸送を半減へ

Railway transit between Estonia and Russia decreases by half according to Russia’s decision. The reasons behind the decision of Russia are not known, but it could be motivated by a wish to apply counter-sanctions. Such drop in transit volumes also affects other sectors, in particular ports and maritime affairs. (Postimees, page 13, April 12, 2016)
 

●外国人による不動産取得，減少傾向

The fraction of foreign residents, who buy real estate in Estonia, decreased for 3rd subsequent year, reaching 2.1% in 2015. Most of real estate transactions of foreign residents are done from neighboring countries: Finland, Russia and Sweden. Interest of buyers from more distant countries has slightly increased – last year the growing interest of Chinese residents was pointed out by several real estate experts. (Äripäev, Kinnisvara, page 6-10 , April 12, 2016)
 

●オイルシェール灰から肥料を生産

Estonian Energy starts producing fertilizer from oil-shale ashes under a new brand-name Enefix. Survey shows that soil improver from oil-shale ashes helps plants to better acquire nutrition and decrease the risk of being infected with diseases. (Postimees, page 10, April 22, 2016)
 

●白樺の樹液を輸出

South-East Estonia based company Nopri has produced more than 100 tons of birch sap this year, introduced seven new birch sap products to the market, and are now hoping to reach the markets of Germany, Netherlands, UK and Austria. (Postimees, page 11, April 22, 2016)
 

●スタートアップ投資システム，稼動

Estonian company Funderbeam launched platform for trading startup stocks on Thursday. On Funderbeam Markets investing takes place via syndicates bringing together investments from business angels and small investors, which will then place the money in a business in one transaction. It will also enable investors to buy and sell their shares on the market, solving the liquidity problem of early-state investments. Founded in June 2013, Funderbeam has raised 1.75 million euros from Estonian and British angel investors. (Postimees, page 12, April 22, 2016)
 

●木造住宅輸出，28％増加

Export of wooden houses grew by 28.2% in 2015. The largest export destinations are Norway, Sweden, Germany and UK. (Äripäev, page 9, April 22, 2016)
 

●AirBaltic社，タリン空港でシェア1位

AirBaltic outran Nordica in market share at Tallinn Airport in April, servicing 28 474 passengers, which is 64% more than at the same time last year. Flight market in Tallinn is nearly equally shared in between six larger companies: airBaltic, Nordica, Ryanair, Lufthansa, Finnair and SAS. (Äripäev, page 8, May 5, 2016)
 

●第1四半期GDP：前年同期比＋1．7％

The gross domestic product of Estonia increased by 1.7 percent in the first quarter of 2016 compared to the first quarter of 2015, it can be seen from flash estimates published by Statistics Estonia on Thursday. Domestic consumption growth which is the main supporter of economic growth in Estonia is to decelerate in the second half of the year, while foreign demand is to increase. (BNS, May 12, 2016)
 

●110秒で会社設立

A new portal Invest Easy, created by Estonian software and business-consultancy company Nortal, brings most of entrepreneurship-related services online in Oman and enabling to create a company in 110 seconds, which  is the new world record. (Eesti Päevaleht, page 20, May 18, 2016)
 

●エストニアで働くラトビア人増加

Aripaev writes that more and more Latvians are choosing Estonia and in particular Southern Estonia as place of employment, mainly because of higher wages. Atria's Valga plant employs 15 Latvians at present, most  of them residents of Valka, but also Valmiera that is 50 km from the border. (BBN, May 19, 2016)