Estonia’s Finance Ministry raised its 2012 inflation forecast as oil prices exceed its estimates, reducing its outlook for consumer-price growth in 2013.

Inflation (ESCPLYOY) will probably average 3.3 percent this year, compared with a September forecast of 2.8 percent, the ministry, based in the capital, Tallinn, said today in a new economic outlook. Consumer-price growth may slow to 3 percent next year, compared with a previous estimate of 3.1 percent.

Rising oil prices are triggering upward revisions to official inflation forecasts, Finance Minister Juergen Ligi said last week. Growth in the $19 billion Baltic economy may slow to 1.7 percent this year from 7.6 percent in 2011, the European Union’s fastest pace, as the euro region’s debt crisis saps export demand, Ligi said. It may quicken to 3 percent in 2013, he added.

Price growth in the year to February averaged 5 percent, the second-fastest rate in the 27-member EU behind Romania. Persistently high global fuel prices affect the newest euro-area member more than most European countries because of its lower incomes and northern location, according to the central bank and the Finance Ministry.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ott Ummelas in Tallinn at oummelas@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Balazs Penz at bpenz@bloomberg.net