Economy - overview Latvia's transitional economy recovered from the 1998 Russian financial crisis, largely due to the SKELE government's budget stringency and a gradual reorientation of exports toward EU countries, lessening Latvia's trade dependency on Russia. The majority of companies, banks, and real estate have been privatized. Latvia officially joined the World Trade Organization in February 1999 - the first Baltic state to join - and was invited at the Helsinki EU Summit in December 1999 to begin accession talks in early 2000. Preparing for EU membership over the next few years remains a top foreign policy goal. The high current account deficit remains a major concern.

GDP purchasing power parity - $18.6 billion (2001 est.)

GDP - real growth rate 6.3% (2001 est.)

GDP - per capita purchasing power parity - $7,800 (2001 est.)

GDP - composition by sector
agriculture: 5%
industry: 24%
services: 71% (2000)

Population below poverty line NA%

Household income or consumption by percentage share
lowest 10%: 2.9%
highest 10%: 25.9% (1998)

Distribution of family income - Gini index 32 (1999)

Inflation rate (consumer prices) 2.5% (2001)

Labor force 1.1 million (2001 est.)

Labor force - by occupation agriculture 15%, industry 25%, services 60% (2000 est.)

Unemployment rate 7.6% (2001 est.)

Budget
revenues: $2.4 billion
expenditures: $2.6 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (2002 est.)

Industries buses, vans, street and railroad cars, synthetic fibers, agricultural machinery, fertilizers, washing machines, radios, electronics, pharmaceuticals, processed foods, textiles; note - dependent on imports for energy and raw materials

Industrial production growth rate 6.4% (2001 est.)

Electricity - production 3.301 billion kWh (2000)

Electricity - production by source
fossil fuel: 33.02%
hydro: 66.98%
other: 0% (2000)
nuclear: 0%

Electricity - consumption 5.16 billion kWh (2000)

Electricity - exports 500 million kWh (2000)

Electricity - imports 2.59 billion kWh (2000)

Agriculture - products grain, sugar beets, potatoes, vegetables; beef, pork, milk, eggs; fish

Exports $2.2 billion (f.o.b., 2001)

Exports - commodities wood and wood products, machinery and equipment, metals, textiles, foodstuffs

Exports - partners Germany 17%, UK 16%, Sweden 10%, Lithuania 8% (2001 est.)

Imports $3.3 billion (f.o.b., 2001)

Imports - commodities machinery and equipment, chemicals, fuels, vehicles

Imports - partners Germany 17%, Russia 9%, Lithuania 8%, Finland 8%, Sweden 7% (2001 est.)

Debt - external $2.6 billion (2000 est.)

Economic aid - recipient $96.2 million (1995)

Currency Latvian lat (LVL)

Currency code LVL

Exchange rates lati per US dollar - 0.6384 (January 2002), 0.628 (2001), 0.607 (2000), 0.585 (1999), 0.590 (1998), 0.581 (1997)

Fiscal year calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Latvia on this page is re-published from the 2002 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Latvia Economy 2002 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Latvia Economy 2002 should be addressed to the CIA.