Economy - overview: Latvia is a transitional economy. It has had high GDP growth since 2000. In 2003, GDP growth was 7.5% and inflation was 2.9%. Unemployment was 8.8% in 2003, almost unchanged compared to the previous two years. Privatization is mostly complete, except for some of the large state-owned utilities. It is expected that GDP growth will remain high in 2004, while inflation is expected to increase. On May 1, 2004, Latvia joined the European Union.
Economy - in greater depth:
For centuries under Hanseatic and German influence and then during its inter-war independence, Latvia used its geographic location as an important East-West commercial and trading center.
Industry served local markets, while timber, paper and agricultural products supplied Latvia's main exports. Conversely, the years of Russian and Soviet occupation tended to integrate Latvia's economy to serve those empires' large internal industrial needs. Comprising 40.1% of the populace, non-ethnic Latvians control almost 80% of the economy.
Since reestablishing its independence, Latvia has proceeded with market-oriented reforms, albeit at a measured pace. Its freely traded currency, the lat, was introduced in 1993 and has held steady, or appreciated, against major world currencies. Inflation was reduced from over 100% a year in early 1990s to 25% by 1995 and 2.5% by 1999. It has stayed low since then but has increased to 6% in 2004.
After contracting substantially between 1991-93, the economy steadied in late 1994, led by recovery in light industry and a boom in commerce and finance. This recovery was interrupted twice, first by a banking crisis and the bankruptcy of Banka Baltija, Latvia's largest bank, in 1995 and second by a severe crisis in the financial system of neighbouring Russia in 1998. Since 2000, Latvian GDP has grown by 6-8% a year for 4 consecutive years.
Latvia's state budget was balanced in 1997 but the Russian financial crisis of 1998 resulted in large deficits which are being slowly reduced, from 4% of GDP in 1999 to 1.8% in 2003. These deficits are, however, smaller than in most of the other countries joining the European Union in 2004.
Replacement of the centrally planned system imposed during the Soviet period with a structure based on free-market principles has been occurring spontaneously from below much more than through consistently applied structural adjustment. Official statistics tend to understate the booming private sector, suggesting that the Latvian people and their economy are doing much better than is reflected statistically. Two-thirds of employment and 60% of GDP is now in the private sector. Recovery in light industry and Riga's emergence as a regional financial and commercial center have offset shrinkage of the state-owned industrial sector and agriculture. The official unemployment figure has held steady in the 7%-10% range.
Privatization in Latvia is almost complete. Virtually all of the previously state-owned small and medium companies have been successfully privatized, leaving only a small number of politically sensitive large state companies. In particular, the country's main energy company, Latvenergo remains state-owned and there is no plans to privatize it. Government also holds minority shares in Ventspils Nafta oil transit company and country's main telecom company Lattelekom but it plans to sell those. Despite a bad image based on loosely controlled privatization efforts in the early days, as well as the difficulties of privatizing the utilities, Latvian privatization efforts have led to the development of a dynamic and prosperous private sector, which accounted for nearly 68% of GDP in 2000.
Foreign investment in Latvia is still modest compared with the levels in north-central Europe. A law expanding the scope for selling land, including to foreigners, was passed in 1997. Representing 10.2% of Latvia's total foreign direct investment, American companies invested $127 million in 1999. In the same year, the United States exported $58.2 million of goods and services to Latvia and imported $87.9 million. Eager to join Western economic institutions like the World Trade Organization, OECD, and the European Union, Latvia signed a Europe Agreement with the EU in 1995--with a 4-year transition period. Latvia and the United States have signed treaties on investment, trade, and intellectual property protection and avoidance of double taxation.
GDP: purchasing power parity - $23.77 billion (2003 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 6.8% (2003 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $10,100 (2003 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 4.5%
industry: 20.9%
services: 74.6% (2002)
Population below poverty line: NA%
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 2.9%
highest 10%: 25.9% (1998)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 2.8% (2003 est.)
Labor force: 1.1 million (2001)
Labor force - by occupation: agriculture and forestry 15%, industry 25%, services 60% (2000)
Unemployment rate: 8.7% (2003 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $2.4 billion
expenditures: $2.6 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (2002 est.)
Industries: synthetic fibers, agricultural machinery, fertilizers, radios, electronics, pharmaceuticals, processed foods, textiles, timber; note - dependent on imports for energy and raw materials
Industrial production growth rate: 5.7% (2002 est.)
Electricity - production: 4,365 GWh (2001)
Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 29.1%
hydro: 70.9%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (2001)
Electricity - consumption: 6,046 GWh (2001)
Electricity - exports: 703 GWh (2001)
Electricity - imports: 2,690 GWh (2001)
Agriculture - products: grain, sugar beets, potatoes, vegetables; beef, milk, eggs; fish
Exports: $3 billion (f.o.b., 2003)
Exports - commodities: wood and wood products, machinery and equipment, metals, textiles, foodstuffs
Exports - partners: Germany 15.3%, UK 14.4%, Sweden 10.4%, Lithuania 8.2%, Estonia 5.9%, Russia 5.8%, Denmark 5.6%, US 4.3% (2002)
Imports: $4.921 billion (f.o.b., 2003)
Imports - commodities: machinery and equipment, chemicals, fuels, vehicles
Imports - partners: Germany 17.2%, Lithuania 9.8%, Russia 8.8%, Finland 8%, Sweden 6.4%, Estonia 6.2%, Poland 5%, Italy 4.2% (2002)
Debt - external: $6.6 billion (2003 est.)
Economic aid - recipient: $96.2 million (1995)
Currency: 1 Latvian lat (LVL) = 100 santims
Exchange rates: lati per US dollar - 0.57 (2003), 0.62 (2002), 0.63 (2001), 0.61 (2000), 0.59 (1999), 0.590 (1998), 0.581 (1997), 0.551 (1996), 0.528 (1995)
Fiscal year: calendar year
See Also
