TALLINN -- In his televised New Year's address read in the hall of the Bank of Estonia, President Toomas Hendrik Ilves said that the people of Estonia must not believe those predicting a fiscal crisis and economic crash.
The president underscored that free market economies inevitably include development and change.
"This is why rapid economic growth, characteristic of transition economies, has now stabilized into a steady rise. Let us accept this and keep this in mind. Yet we must not attach disproportionate or false qualities to our now more measured economic growth. We must not believe those predicting crisis and crash. They are making an overstatement and a mistake, they mislead and discourage. They are wrong," Ilves said.
In the future, Estonian economy will grow in a more balanced manner, he predicted.
Ilves observed that the five or six percent growth rate expected for the new year means that Estonia is no longer racing, but is still making good progress and outperformning most European economies.
He also took great pains to scotch devaluation rumors which are proving to be a persistent annoyance.
"First, and most important: the rate of the Estoniankroon is steady. That was decided already 15 years ago, when Estonia made the choice for the present monetary system. To portend devaluation is incompetent, is false play. The note of lucrative interests rings too clear in the talk of harbingers of trouble," the president said.
"They mean to create mistrust in the future of our country. Just like those few nights in April were meant to create panic and insecurity. That failed, because our trust in the Estonian state was strong. We had the balance of mind to ignore trouble-mongers," he said.
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