Estonia: The muted revival of a Baltic tiger
Estonia: The muted revival of a Baltic tiger By Jon Bithrey Business reporter, BBC World Service Estonia is the euro's newest member and also has the eurozone's fastest growing economy Most European leaders would be delighted if their economy was growing as fast as Estonia's. The small Baltic state's economy is forecast to have grown by 8% during 2011, according to the EU's official statistics body. That's more than five times faster growth than the European Union as a whole. But Estonia is still regaining the ground it lost during a financial crisis that struck it and its Baltic neighbours in 2008-9, when a property bubble burst spectacularly, causing the economy to shrink and unemployment to rocket to 18%. And with the eurozone crisis still unresolved, the renewed growth could slow once again. 'Superficially better' In the inauspicious offices of an employment agency j