Nr 6(229) 30 September 2002

ESTONIA'S INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT POSITION AND EXTERNAL DEBT AS OF 30 JUNE 2002

By the end of the second quarter of 2002 the total volume of foreign investments made into Estonia stood at 120 billion kroons, of which 61.3 billion kroons were direct investments that do not contribute to the external debt (see Table 1). Major FDI areas have been finance (27% of FDI), transport, storage and communication (22%) and manufacturing (20%; see Figure 1). The bulk of direct investments came from Sweden (42%) and Finland (26%; see Figure 2).

Besides direct investments, Estonia has attracted a considerable amount of other investments (loans, deposits, etc; 34%) and portfolio investments (14%). In the second quarter, the biggest increase occurred in portfolio investments, with capital placed into equity and long-term debt securities.

Estonian investments into foreign countries amounted to 59.2 billion kroons by the end of the second quarter. The bulk of it was made up of loans, deposits and the gold and foreign currency reserves of the central bank. Direct investments accounted for 15% of the total volume of investments made abroad. Estonian investors preferred such sectors as finance (40% of all investments made abroad), transport, storage and communication (20%) and real estate, leasing and business services (18%; see Figure 3). By countries, the majority of direct investments were made into Lithuania (42%) and Latvia (34%; see Figure 4).

Due to the predominance of external liabilities Estonia's net investment position at the end of the second quarter was negative by 60.3 billion kroons.

On 30 June, Estonia's total external debt amounted to 64.9 billion kroons (64% of the GDP of the past 12 months) and the net external debt (external debt claims minus external debt liabilities) stood at 8.3 billion kroons (8.2% of the GDP of the past 12 months; see Table 2). The dynamics of Estonia's total foreign debt and net foreign debt can be seen from Figure 5.

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The preliminary international investment position and external debt as of 30 September 2002 will be published at the Eesti Pank web site (http://www.eestipank.info) at noon on 30 December 2002.

International and External Relations Department of Eesti Pank
PS Please acknowledge the source when publishing or citing.

Table 1. Estonia's international investment position (EEK m)(1)

(1) After additional information is received, data of the earlier period has been updated accordingly.

Table 2. External debt (EEK m)