Estonia cuts large-investment support threshold to 70 million euros
Monday 3rd August 2026 on 15:00 in
Estonia
Estonia’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications is lowering the minimum investment eligible for large-scale investment support from 100 million euros to 70 million euros, ERR reported.
The threshold for preferred development projects will be 35 million euros, while projects in the defence industry will qualify from 20 million euros. The food industry will also be added to the list of preferred projects.
The ministry said the food sector was strategically important to the state, including for ensuring food security, and that it wanted to encourage large-scale investment in the industry.
Other preferred projects include the production of net-zero technologies; decarbonisation and transformation of energy-intensive industry; the extraction, processing, refining, recycling or substitution of critical and strategic raw materials; strategic digital technologies; deep technologies; and biotechnologies.
Alongside the lower investment requirement, the minimum number of new jobs may fall from 30 to 20. The ministry said the change would not reduce the measure’s cost-effectiveness because the average value of the jobs created would increase proportionally to the aid provided.
Existing support rates will remain unchanged, at up to 10 percent of the project cost in Harju County and up to 15 percent in other counties. The maximum support is 20 million euros per investment.
“Large investments do not come to us by themselves. We are also competing with our neighbours, so we must create conditions that give companies confidence to choose Estonia as the location for their next factory, development centre or production line,” Minister of Economic Affairs and Industry Erkki Keldo said.
“Lowering the thresholds will give more investors, including those in the defence industry, the opportunity to carry out their investment plans here,” he said.
The large-scale investment support scheme is part of the government’s economic growth plan. Administered by the Enterprise and Innovation Foundation, it aims to attract new investments to Estonia, create higher value-added jobs and strengthen the competitiveness of the country’s industry.