ESTONIA/ LITHUANIA/ LATVIA : Outlook Is For Slower Growth...After Torrid Q1.

BLOOMBERG / O.Ummelas, A.Eglitis

   Analysts predict that Estonia and Lithuania will slow from Q1 as capacity constraints limit exports.
    Both delivered rapid growth rates in the last three years after austerity measures improved competitiveness.
    Latvia also showed fast growth.

THE BALTICS: Lithuanian Moxy Nabs IBM Investment And Jobs.

BLOOMBERG/ By Ott Ummelas and Milda Seputyte/
    Lithuania is now setting the pace for foreign investments in the Baltic states. In a fresh example, IBM yesterday decided to set up a research center there. Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius (pictured) is credited as acting as what some are calling its “investment czar."
     Estonia has been the region's leader in foreign direct investment, with $16.2 billion, followed by Lithuania's $13.8 billion, then by Latvia’s $11.7 billion.

ESTONIA: 1ST UPDATE: Russians, Nearly 8% of Population, Are Stateless In Tallinn.

NYTIMES/ CLIFFORD J. LEVY/ ADDITIONAL NPR VERSION:    
     About 100,000 people, most of them ethnic Russians, are stateless in Estonia, or about 7.5% of 1.35 million people. They are even described as "aliens" in their passports. Estonia's citizenship policy is a response to Stalin's occupation. Like neighboring Latvia, Estonia has granted citizenship ONLY to people and their descendants, who had it before the Soviet's took over.

FOR ANOTHER TAKE ON SUBJECT, SEE  23 AUG  VERSION ON NPR 7:52   BY Reporter David Greene with Audio and Transcript:

 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129333023

ESTONIA: 1ST UPDATE: EU Agrees On Jan. Euro Adoption...Despite Central Bank Concerns.

NYTIMES & BLOOMBERG Compilation/ UPDATE/      
 Estonia's severe budget cuts, about 9% of GDP last year, brought its deficit to 2.4% of economic output meaning that it outperforms all existing euro members, making it a “model” for the bloc and eligible to adopt the euro by 1 January. Estonia’s euro membership may bring with new investments from the Nordic countries like Finland. Economist Katinka Barysch feels that "letting Estonia in was “a nice symbolic move,” though it doesn’t change the fact that the most powerful policy makers inside the currency bloc are wary of enlargement. “Neither Germany nor the European Central Bank are at all keen on eurozone enlargement at the moment. Because Estonia is so tiny, it doesn’t really matter for euro zone stability overall - it’s not Poland knocking at the door,” Barysch said. But the central bank has a more negative assessment of Estonia. While Estonia is well within the limits on government spending and debt, it has a history of high inflation that raises concerns, the central bank said in a blunt report.

ESTONIA: The EU's Model For New Euro Members.

BLOOMBERG/ “Estonia seems pretty much a model of the fiscal discipline that the EU now wants to bring to the entire euro area,” believes economist Christian Keller because it will outperform the 16 euro nations on the EU’s fiscal criteria this year. EU President Jose Barroso said Estonia “most likely” will join the euro area soon. It would be the second-smallest euro economy after Cyprus, with gross domestic product of about $23 billion. Estonia’s austerity measures to get its debt down saw the economy contract 14.1% last year. Fitch Ratings predicts that Estonia will join the euro in January, with Lithuania following in 2014. Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Poland and Romania will switch in 2015, and the Czechs will convert in 2016. But about 4,000 Estonians have signed an online petition started last month to oppose swapping the kroon for the euro.

EURO: Economists' Poll Says Greek Crisis Will Delay Further Adoption.

REUTERS/  A Reuters poll of 44 economists speculates that the current Greek financial crisis has probably delayed euro adoption by at least a year for the biggest emerging Eastern and Central European economies like Poland and the Czech Republic.

THE E.U: Rethinking The Lure Of The Euro.

NYTIMES/ The high price of monetary union and Greece's current financial troubles are forcing some nations to rethink joining euroland. “Countries like Estonia and Latvia were once desperate to get in,” said researcher Alf Vanags. “The euro is not looking so attractive now.”  Governments fear being unable to pay for expensive social programs required by citizens and staying within the euro zone’s strict debt limits.

"The Baltic Way" Celebrated 3 Nation's Desires For Freedom.

GLOBALPOST.COM.
The 20th anniversary of the "Baltic Way" is being celebrated, a 1989 event that signaled Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia's deep desire to exit the Soviet Union.
On Aug. 23, 1989, more than two million people joined hands along 375 miles of a highway linking the Baltic capitals of Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn.
Within a year and a half, all three countries had declared their independence.