Economical situation in Latvia
One of the specifics of the current economical crisis in Latvia is not only disproportion in the frames of economy, but also in the frames of political and social relations development in the World. The first signs of crisis in Latvia appeared in the beginning of year 2007, mostly because of anti-inflation measures of Latvian government.
In 2007, the crisis was on national level, the worldwide financial crisis in August 2008 made the situation even worst and the latest events in January 2009 demonstrated that economical, social and political processes in Latvian society are becoming uncontrollable. Some of the features of the crisis are: decrease in export; increase in external debts; devaluation of national currency Lat; exhaustion of gold reserves etc. One can mention as well absence of internal resources for development, low level of local production, and absence of conceptions, institutions and mechanisms to provide sustainable development of the economy
Economical situation in Latvia: reasons and potential ways out .*pdf (Short English, full version Russian)A. Gaponenko – Director of the Institute of Europeans studies, Doctor of Economics.