A new economic crisis has begun and the question of how to minimize the consequences is key, Estonian finance minister Martin Helme said on Tuesday.

"What we are seeing is everything happening in two months; in the European sphere, in two weeks. The first outcome is that we have not had as bad an outlook as that affecting the current economy. We cannot predict what will happen within two weeks or two months,” ERR reported quoting Helme. 

"Both the global and European economies are in greater debt today than they were ten years ago. Unemployment is higher. Competitiveness is worse than it was right before the crisis of 2008. There had been talk of a fall. Now the bubble has burst with a big pop," he continued. "We are clearly in a phase of recession, and in this phase the worst thing to do when a country starts to contract is to amplify that downturn. However, a very large part of the economy revolves around public investment and public sector wages. If we go down that route [of not spending], we can only amplify the downturn, something we certainly cannot do.”