TALLINN — Estonia has again been given the thumbs-up from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after it called the country’s efforts in seeking euro adoption “remarkable.”

A new report released by the IMF this week on the smallest Baltic state said the government had done well considering the global economic climate.

“As a result of present and past efforts, euro adoption in 2011 appears within reach. Following recent budget measures and assuming continued fiscal consolidation efforts, Estonia could meet all Maastricht criteria, while the policy record to date provides assurances for continued stability-oriented policies. This is remarkable, as it is being achieved against the background of severe dislocations due to the crisis,” the report said.

The IMF warned that gaining the common European currency wouldn’t be a panacea and that more hard work was ahead for the country.

“The focus should now be on restoring economic stability and laying the foundations for more balanced growth. Euro adoption by itself is unlikely to trigger any major change in the pace of recovery,” the report said.

Estonia is in the midst of the economic crisis like Latvia and Lithuania, but managed to avoid large-scale deficit spending by making massive cuts to its state budget to stay within the Maastricht criteria, which stipulate that the country must not run a budget deficit of more than 3 percent of gross domestic product.

On the latest statistics from the third quarter of 2009, Estonia’s year on year GDP contracted 15.6 percent, Statistics Estonia reported. Unemployment in the same quarter was at 14.6 percent.