Small countries, big problems

The Baltic countries hate being treated as one, but this time it is unavoidable. The Estonian, Lithuanian and Latvian housing markets have gone into reverse. In Tallinn they are even wondering whether they have hit bottom Mladen PetrovEstonians are a tight-lipped people, who change their expressions only when the subject of the situation on the residential market is broached. For the first time in its modern history, the market has had to cope with serious difficulties for more than a year. The diagnosis is simple – this Baltic tiger is sick. The same can be said for Latvia, with the disease already now spreading to Lithuania. The word ‘recession’ is increasingly popping up in discussions about the economy of the three Baltic states, which were once regarded as the tigers of Europe, while analysts are simply saying that “the balloon has burst”.Statistics paint a shocking pictu