Budget Surplus Bonanza

A draft Estonian law intended to change regulations governing the statistics office has been criticised by the European Central Bank (ECB) as increasing political influence over the office. In an opinion released on January 18, the ECB stated that the new law would give the Estonian Ministry of Finance 'extensive powers over the production of national statistics', adding that the independence of Statistics Estonia was crucial for assessing convergence over the long run. The Estonian Ministry of Finance has suggested that changes could still be made to the draft law to address the ECB's concerns. Certainly, with the Estonian government

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