By Plenary Sessions: Jaak Valge

Economic perspectives stress the importance of improving the labor situation and raising incomes. The objective is to increase the employee's net income and ensure fairness, which points to prioritizing the interests of the workforce.

Economic perspectives emphasize the importance of productivity and knowledge-intensive innovation, contrasting with the influx of cheap labor, which inhibits companies from investing in research and development (R&D). Although the growth of the private sector’s share in R&D is commendable, the speaker deems the efficiency of resource utilization and the applicability of scientific output to the Estonian economy to be more crucial.

Economic views are against tax increases because they are considered the main local cause of inflation, which is substantially higher than in neighboring countries. It emphasizes the necessity of factoring in regional and social effects when designing taxation and of suppressing the predictably growing inflation.

Economic perspectives support fiscal stimulus during the crisis through lowering the income tax rate to 18.5%. The primary objective is to leave more money in the hands of citizens in order to boost consumption and facilitate economic recovery.

No data available.

Economic perspectives focus on labor productivity and the impact of public health on the economy. It is emphasized that Estonia’s low number of healthy life years is reducing the working-age population, pointing to a potential loss of 40,000 workers. The government is being called upon to take steps to increase the number of healthy life years.

Data is scarce.

Economic views are strongly in favor of stimulus, stressing the need to cut taxes (VAT) and increase the money supply during the crisis. The speaker sharply opposes policies that restrict the money supply and raise taxes, viewing this as a mistake that deepens the economic crisis.

There is too little data.