On Thursday, 16 April, Deputy Governor of Eesti Pank Andres Sutt gave a presentation at the Pärnu Financial Conference. He noted that although the financial crisis, which originated in advanced economies, has disrupted the past ten years' economic growth model, the history of global economy supports the continuation of recent growth.

In order to support his standpoint, Sutt presented a chart on GDP growth in the USA in 1820-2006. "Regardless of a couple of short-term fluctuations, the US economy has shown steady upward movement throughout all these years. Long-term growth has not been swayed by the civil war, the Great Depression, the two world wars and different changes in global economic models. It would be short-sighted to think the current crisis will put a halt to economic growth," said Andres Sutt.

According to Sutt, Estonia is facing the question of how to successfully exit a situation, where the economy will take an upward trend in Estonia's neighbouring markets. "If we compare Estonia's wage level to that of Scandinavia, we have the chance of winning over some of the enterprise there. It is important to make use of the new opportunities emerging after the crisis. The adoption of the euro is of crucial importance here. There must be no taboos as regards measures improving the fiscal balance. Every economic policy price we have to pay to change over to the euro is worth paying," added Sutt.

Sutt highlighted as factors beneficial for Estonia that the labour market is proving its flexibility, the current account deficit is rebelancing and the capital and liquidity of the banking sector are sufficient.