Baltic Tiger is a term used to refer to any of the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania during their periods of economic boom, which started after the year 2000 and continued at least until 2007. The term is modeled on Four Asian Tigers, Tatra Tiger, and Celtic Tiger, which were used to describe the economic boom periods in East Asia, Hungary, Serbia, Slovakia, and Ireland, respectively.
Economically, parallel with the political changes, and the democratic transition, – as a rule of law states – the previous command economies were transformed via the legislation into market economies, and set up or renewed the major macroeconomic factors: budgetary rules, national audit, national currency, central bank. Generally, they shortly encountered the following problems: high inflation, high unemployment, low economic growth and high government debt. The inflation rate, in the examined area, relatively quickly dropped to below 5% by 2000. Meanwhile, these economies were stabilized, and in 2004 all of them joined the European Union. New macroeconomic requirements have arisen for them; the Maastricht criteria became obligatory. Later the Stability and Growth Pact set stricter rules through national legislation by implementing e g the regulations and directives of the Sixpack, because the financial crisis was a shocking milestone. [1]
After 2000, the Baltic Tiger economies implemented important economic reforms and liberalisation, which, coupled with their fairly low-wage and skilled labour force, attracted large amounts of foreign investment and economic growth. [2] Between 2000 and 2007, the Baltic Tiger states had the highest growth rates in Europe. In 2006, for example, Estonia grew by 10.3% in gross domestic product, while Latvia grew by 11.9% and Lithuania by 7.5%. All three countries by February 2006 saw their rates of unemployment falling below average EU values. Additionally, Estonia went from being classified as an upper-middle income economy to a high-income economy by the World Bank in 2006 [3] and is now considered among the ten most liberal economies in the world [4] according to the Index of Economic Freedom .
Due to these developments, all the countries had very high capital inflows, that resulted in high current account deficits, circa 10% in 2007. [5] The global financial crisis triggered the collapse of the cross-border capital flows, causing some of the most severe recessions in Europe. A collapse of property markets, real wages decline and rise of unemployment followed. In 2008, Latvia's GDP shrank by −4.6% and Estonia's −3.6% while Lithuania's slowed to 3.0%. As the crisis swept across Eastern and Central Europe the economic reversal intensified: Estonia's GDP dropped by -16.2% year-on-year, Latvia's by −19.6% and Lithuania's by −16.8%. [6] By mid-2009, all three countries experienced one of the deepest recessions in the world.
In 2010 the economic situation in the Baltic states stabilized and in 2011 the Baltic states experienced the fastest recoveries in the European Union, after having lost a substantial part of their populations through emigration, particularly Lithuania. Estonia's GDP grew by 8.3% in 2011, Lithuania's GDP grew by 5.9% and Latvia's GDP by 5.5%. [7] Estonia adopted the Euro in January 2011, Latvia in 2014 and Lithuania entered the Eurozone in 2015. [5]
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Estonia |  7.3% | 3.2% | 1.5% | 3.0% | 1.9% | 3.2% | 5.8% | 3.8% | 4.0% |  -1.0% | 7.2% | -0.5% |
| Latvia | 2.6% | 7.0% | 2.0% | 1.9% | 3.9% | 2.4% | 3.3% | 4.0% | 0.6% | -3.5% | 6.7% | 3.4% |
| Lithuania | 6.0% | 3.8% | 3.6% | 3.5% | 2.0% | 2.5% | 4.3% | 4.0% | 4.7% | 0.0% | 6.3% | 2.4% |
| Data from Eurostat | ||||||||||||
| Country | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Estonia | 18.911 | 20.048 | 20.631 | 21.748 | 23.834 | 25.932 | 27.765 | 27.465 | 31.445 | 36.181 | 37.682 |
 Latvia | 22.791 | 23.626 | 24.572 | 25.371 | 26.984 | 29.154 | 30.679 | 30.265 | 33.617 | 39.063 | 40.310 |
 Lithuania | 35.040 | 36.581 | 37.346 | 38.890 | 42.276 | 45.515 | 48.916 | 49.829 | 56.154 | 66.791 | 72.048 |
| Country | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Estonia | 14,320 | 15,240 | 15,710 | 16,530 | 18,120 | 19,660 | 20,960 | 20,670 | 23,640 | 27,170 | 27,590 |
| Latvia | 11,320 | 11,850 | 12,430 | 12,950 | 13,900 | 15,130 | 16,040 | 15,920 | 17,850 | 20,710 | 21,440 |
| Lithuania | 11,850 | 12,480 | 12,860 | 13,560 | 14,950 | 16,250 | 17,510 | 17,830 | 19,990 | 23,580 | 25,070 |
Economies of the Baltic Tigers:
Other 'Tigers'
The economy of Estonia is rated advanced by the World Bank, i.e. with high quality of life and advanced infrastructure relative to less industrialized nations. Estonia is a member of the European Union, eurozone and OECD The economy is heavily influenced by developments in the Finnish and Swedish economies.
The economy of Latvia is an open economy in Europe and is part of the European Single Market. Latvia is a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) since 1999, a member of the European Union since 2004, a member of the Eurozone since 2014 and a member of the OECD since 2016. Latvia is ranked the 14th in the world by the Ease of Doing Business Index prepared by the World Bank Group. According to the Human Development Report 2023/24 by the United Nations Development Programme, has a HDI score of a 0.879. Due to its geographical location, transit services are highly developed, along with timber and wood processing, agriculture and food products, and manufacturing of machinery and electronic devices.
Macroeconomics is a branch of economics that deals with the performance, structure, behavior, and decision-making of an economy as a whole. This includes regional, national, and global economies. Macroeconomists study topics such as output/GDP and national income, unemployment, price indices and inflation, consumption, saving, investment, energy, international trade, and international finance.
The economy of Slovakia is based upon Slovakia becoming an EU member state in 2004, and adopting the euro at the beginning of 2009. Its capital, Bratislava, is the largest financial centre in Slovakia. As of Q1 2018, the unemployment rate was 5.72%.
The economy of Spain is a highly developed social market economy. It is the world's 15th largest by nominal GDP and the sixth-largest in Europe. Spain is a member of the European Union and the eurozone, as well as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and the World Trade Organization. In 2023, Spain was the 18th-largest exporter in the world. Meanwhile, in 2022, Spain was the 15th-largest importer in the world. Spain is listed 27th in the United Nations Human Development Index and 36th in GDP per capita by the World Bank. Some main areas of economic activity are the automotive industry, medical technology, chemicals, shipbuilding, tourism and the textile industry. Among OECD members, Spain has a highly efficient and strong social security system, which comprises roughly 23% of GDP.
The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term encompassing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, Council of Europe, and the OECD. The three sovereign states on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea are sometimes referred to as the "Baltic nations", less often and in historical circumstances also as the "Baltic republics", the "Baltic lands", or simply the Baltics.
A tiger economy is the economy of a country which undergoes rapid economic growth, usually accompanied by an increase in the standard of living. The term was originally used for the Four Asian Tigers as tigers are important in Asian symbolism, which also inspired the Tiger Cub Economies. The Asian Tigers also inspired other economies later on; the Anatolian Tigers in the 1980s, the Gulf Tiger (Dubai) in the 1990s, the Celtic Tiger in 1995–2000, the Baltic tigers in 2000–2007, and the Tatra Tiger (Slovakia) in 2002–2007.
A transition economy or transitional economy is an economy which is changing from a centrally planned economy to a market economy. Transition economies undergo a set of structural transformations intended to develop market-based institutions. These include economic liberalization, where prices are set by market forces rather than by a central planning organization. In addition to this trade barriers are removed, there is a push to privatize state-owned enterprises and resources, state and collectively run enterprises are restructured as businesses, and a financial sector is created to facilitate macroeconomic stabilization and the movement of private capital. The process has been applied in China, the former Soviet Union and Eastern bloc countries of Europe and some Third world countries, and detailed work has been undertaken on its economic and social effects.
The Great Moderation is a period of macroeconomic stability in the United States of America coinciding with the rise of independent central banking beginning from 1980 and continuing to the present day. It is characterized by generally milder business cycle fluctuations in developed nations, compared with decades before. Throughout this period, major economic variables such as real GDP growth, industrial production, unemployment, and price levels have become less volatile, while average inflation has fallen and recessions have become less common.
The economy of Lithuania is the largest economy among the three Baltic states. Lithuania is a member of the European Union and belongs to the group of very high human development countries and is a member of the WTO and OECD.
The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country. At the time, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded that it was the most severe economic and financial meltdown since the Great Depression.
The European recession is part of the Great Recession that began in mid-2007. The crisis spread rapidly and affected much of the region, with several countries already in recession as of February 2009, and most others suffering marked economic setbacks. The global recession was first seen in Europe, as Ireland was the first country to fall into recession from Q2-Q3 2007 – followed by temporary growth in Q4 2007 – and then a two-year-long recession.
While beginning in the United States, the Great Recession spread to Asia rapidly and has affected much of the region.
The 2008 Latvian financial crisis, which stemmed from the 2007–2008 financial crisis, was a major economic and political crisis in Latvia. The crisis was generated when an easy credit market burst, resulting in an unemployment crisis, along with the bankruptcy of many companies. Since 2010, economic activity has recovered and Latvia's economic growth rate was the fastest among the EU member states in the first three quarters of 2012.
The 1990s economic boom in the United States was a major economic expansion that lasted between 1993 and 2001, coinciding with the economic policies of the Clinton administration. It began following the early 1990s recession during the presidency of George H.W. Bush and ended following the infamous dot-com crash in 2000. Until July 2019, it was the longest recorded economic expansion in the history of the United States.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the end of its centrally-planned economy, the Russian Federation succeeded it under president Boris Yeltsin. The Russian government used policies of shock therapy to liberalize the economy as part of the transition to a market economy, causing a sustained economic recession. GDP per capita levels returned to their 1991 levels by the mid-2000s. The economy of Russia is much more stable today than in the early 1990s, but inflation still remains an issue. Historically and currently, the Russian economy has differed sharply from major developed economies because of its weak legal system, underdevelopment of modern economic activities, technological backwardness, and lower living standards.
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The Baltic states' housing bubble was an economic bubble involving major cities in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The three Baltic countries had enjoyed a relatively strong economic growth between 2000 and 2006, and the real estate sectors had performed well since 2000. In fact, in between 2005Q1 and 2007Q1, the official house price index for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania recorded a sharp jump of 104.6%, 134.3% and 106.7%. By comparison, the official house price index for Euro Area increased by 11.8% for a similar time period.
The Turkish economic boom of the 2000s refers to a period of stabilization and growth following the 2001 Turkish economic crisis. Between 2002 and 2007, Turkey's economy experienced an average growth rate of 7.2%, much higher than the average growth rate during the nineties. The Turkish economy saw relative prosperity during the 2007–2008 financial crisis and the Great Recession and grew 8.8% in 2010, and 9.2% and 2011.
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