The level of Baltic economy attracts western investments

A survey shows that companies based in Germany are willing to invest more in the Baltic States and create new jobs.

German companies operating in the Baltic States are more optimistic than a year ago, according to a 2013 survey of members of the German-Baltic Chamber of Commerce in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania (-Baltic States), in which 104 companies took part.

In view of the improving economic situation in the Baltic States and the positive prospects for their own companies, German companies are also planning to increase their investments and create new jobs in 2013.
In Estonia, about a third of the participating companies plan to hire new employees this year. In Lithuania it is even 40 percent and in Latvia 25 percent. Compared to the last two years, even more companies in all three Baltic States are now planning to increase their investments.

At the beginning of 2013, the German companies that took part in this survey assessed the economic situation in the Baltic States as slightly more favorable than in the previous surveys of 2011 and 2012. In all three countries, the expectations of the participants for the current year are evenly more optimistic than still early 2012.

The majority of German companies that are active in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania assess the current economic situation in all three countries as good or at least as satisfactory as they would like it to be.

In Estonia, 43 percent of respondents and in Latvia 53 percent expect their business to develop in the next 12 months. A year earlier, the proportion was 50 percent. While more than 67 percent of German companies in Lithuania expect their business situation to improve further, only 40 percent did so last year.

The current confidence and optimism of these Western investors shows that the Baltic States appear to have emerged from the crisis and are a good place to initiate and conduct business.