Confidence level lowest since 1992

TALLINN 's Estonia's economic confidence index has fallen to 54.4 percent 's the lowest level since shortly after the country regained independence in 1992.

Data from the Estonian Institute of Economic Research (EKI) indicates that economic confidence in Estoniahad fallen in all branches of the economy and among consumers.

The situation is not much better in the European Union as a whole, where the confidence index was 63.5 percent in December. This is the lowest level since 1985. The economic confidence index is historically at the lowest level in all member countries of the European Union.

The Estonian industrial companies' security indicator was minus 40 in December, the lowest level during the period that the industrial barometer has been compiled (1993-2008).

Also building companies had a historical low security indicator of minus 67.

The security index of retail trade companies was minus 48 in December, the lowest level sine 1992 and 15 points lower than in November, EKI said.

The information came out alongside information from EKI experts indicating that the economic situation in the country was likely to get significantly worse in the short term.

It appears from a study EKI carried out in December that 76 percent of the experts expected worse times for the economy than at present in six months, while 24 percent assessed that the situation would remain at the present level.

The experts were somewhat more optimistic about private consumption than about the general situation in six months' time. Six percent found that private consumption would increase, 28 percent that it would remain at the present level and 65 percent believe that it would fall.

More than half the economic experts interviewed by EKI believed that the bottom of the economic fall would arrive in the second half of this year.