Estonia: bonds, indices, credit ratings

The issue and management of Estonian national debt are a task of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Estonia (Eesti Vabariik). The development of the capital market and its infrastructure in the years following Estonia’s independence has been affected by factors such as the government’s conservative fiscal policy and borrowing, which has resulted in modest issuance of government bonds, the currency board system, where Eesti Pank does not conduct an active monetary policy and banks’ liquidity management is carried out through international financial structures, and the relatively high cost of local resources compared to foreign funds, all of which have supported the bank-based financing of Estonia’s economy.
Debt instruments accounted for less than 5 percent of GDP by the end of March 2009. The secondary market is also shallow, as buy and hold investors snap up the few issues available.