TALLINN, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- The Estonian economy grew 3.9 percent in 2018 compared to 2017, Statistics Estonia said on Thursday.
In 2018, Estonia's gross domestic product (GDP) was 26 billion euros (29.6 billion U.S. dollars) at current prices, Statistics Estonia said in a statement.
In the fourth quarter of 2018, the country's economy grew by 4.2 percent compared to the same period of 2017, it said.
Main contributors to the growth of the economy were construction and manufacturing, as well as professional, scientific and technical activities, and a significant contribution also came from transportation, storage, and information and communication services, according to the statement.
The only significant negative impacts on economic growth came from agriculture, forestry and fishing, largely due to the poor performance of these sectors in the second half of the year, said the statement.
The value added in construction increased by 18.6 percent in 2018, followed by professional, scientific and technical activities (13.3 percent), information and communication services (10.6 percent), transportation and storage (9.2 percent), and mining and quarrying (8.7 percent), while the growth of value added in manufacturing, which contributes the largest share in GDP, accelerated to 5.3 percent in 2018. The value added in trade increased by 0.9 percent only.
In 2018, net taxes on products increased by 6.9 percent at current prices and by 2.2 percent adjusted for inflation, said the statement.
Estonia's exports of goods and services increased by 4.3 percent overall in 2018. The biggest contributor was the export of services, which increased by 5.6 percent. Domestic demand also produced the best results in the last six years, growing 5.3 percent. Investments increased by 3.3 percent in 2018, which is a very good result compared to previous years, the statement noted. (1 euro=1.14 U.S. dollars)
