Latvia

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Country summary

Capital

Riga

Borders

Belarus 171 km, Estonia 343 km, Lithuania 576 km, Russia 292 km

Government type

parliamentary democracy

Population

2,231,503 (July 2010 est.)[1]

Population growth

-0.614% (2010 est.)[1]

Life expectancy

72.15 years[1]

Unemployment

17.1% (2009 est.)[1]

Index of Economic Freedom

50[2]

Corruption Perceptions Index

56[3]

Doing Business ranking

27[4]


The name "Latvia" originates from the ancient Latgalians, one of four eastern Baltic tribes that formed the ethnic core of the Latvian people (ca. 8th-12th centuries A.D.). The region subsequently came under the control of Germans, Poles, Swedes, and finally, Russians. A Latvian republic emerged following World War I, but it was annexed by the USSR in 1940 - an action never recognized by the US and many other countries. Latvia reestablished its independence in 1991 following the breakup of the Soviet Union. Although the last Russian troops left in 1994, the status of the Russian minority (some 30% of the population) remains of concern to Moscow. Latvia joined both NATO and the EU in the spring of 2004.[1]

Economical characteristics

  • Currency: Lats (ISO code: LVL)
  • Central bank discount rate: 6% (31 December 2008)[1]
  • Commercial banks lending rate: 11.85% (31 December 2008)[1]
  • Stock of money (M1): $6.688 billion (31 December 2008)[1]
  • Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $5.572 billion (31 December 2008)[1]

Notable events:

Statistics

Statistic / Year 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
GDP (million USD)[6] 7 289 7 833 8 313 9 315 11 186 13 762 16 042 19 935 28 766 33 784
Govt. debt (% of GDP)[7] 11.974 12.017 13.658 22.816
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)[8] 28.623 26.071 23.826 26.069 26.036 25.578 26.269 27.196 26.575 26.023
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)[9] 31.573 28.117 26.307 27.736 27.151 27.764 29.017 28.961 26.215 29.360
Debt to revenue (years) 0.418 0.461 0.573 0.877

Monetary Aggregates

Statistic @ End of year 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
M0 (million LVL)[10] 108.4 224.9 269.4 273.6 340.7 441.7 471.5 526.2 566.7 617.1 755.1 806.8 957.2 1350.7 2248.8 2471.2 2111.5 1645.8
M1 (million LVL)[11] 1,592.1 2,000.10 2,870.20 4,065.80 3,935.20 3,345.10 2,979.30
M2 (million LVL)[11] 2,220.3 2,816.50 3,905.80 5,456.00 6,242.00 5,964.90 5,796.20
M3 (million LVL)[11] 2,222.9 2,817.00 3,925.40 5,506.80 6,311.60 6,039.50 5,873.10

References

Note: statistical data was rounded. Different sources may use different methodologies for their estimates. Debt to revenue is calculated by dividing the two variables from their original ('unrounded') values. It represents how long it would a government take to repay its entire debt if it used its whole revenue for this purpose.

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 CIA - The World Factbook. "Latvia", from The World Factbook. Referenced 2010-09-29.
  2. ↑ Heritage Foundation. "Latvia", Economic Freedom Score. A lower ranking is better; but please be careful when comparing between different countries or years. Referenced 2010-09-29.
  3. ↑ Transparency International. "Latvia", Corruption Perceptions Index 2009. A lower ranking is better; but please note that the numbers cannot be compared between countries or years due to different methodology. Referenced 2010-09-29.
  4. ↑ Doing Business. "Latvia", Doing Business 2010 (part of The World Bank Group). A lower ranking is better; but please be careful when comparing between different countries or years. Referenced 2010-09-29.
  5. ↑ Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth S. Rogoff. "This Time is Different", Princeton University Press, ISBN 978-0-691-14216-6, p. 372. (The list does not claim to be complete.) Referenced 2011-07-20.
  6. ↑ World Bank. "Latvia: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29.
  7. ↑ World Bank. "Latvia: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29.
  8. ↑ World Bank. "Latvia: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29.
  9. ↑ World Bank. "Latvia: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29.
  10. ↑ Monetary Base [1] (xls, notes in Latvian), from The Bank of Latvia Banking and Monetary Statistics. Referenced 2010-10-06.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Monetary Aggregates and Counterparts (in Accordance with the Methodology of the ECB) [2] (xls, notes in Latvian), from The Bank of Latvia [3]. Referenced 2010-10-06.

Links

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