2020.05.2906:37:00UTC+00Estonia's GDP Contracts In Q1

Estonia's economy contracted in the first quarter on weak household spending and investment, data published by Statistics Estonia showed Friday.

Gross domestic product fell 0.7 percent on a yearly basis in the first quarter, compared to fourth quarter's 3.9 percent expansion. The impact of the coronavirus was not yet considerable, Robert M??rsepp, leading analyst at Statistics Estonia, said. "However, the virus seems to have negatively affected trade, transport and accommodation and food service activities."

The main cause for the economic downturn were net product taxes, which fell in the first quarter by 18.8 percent, mainly due to a drop in VAT and fuel excise duty receipts, the agency added.

Household consumption growth decelerated sharply to 0.3 percent and investments declined 6.9 percent.

At the same time, exports dropped by 2.6 percent and imports by 5.2 percent.

On a quarterly basis, GDP was down by seasonally adjusted 3.7 percent in the first quarter. Year-on-year, GDP fell by adjusted 0.8 percent.