Latvias Economic Life

Latvia stands out as the East European country hardest hit by the global financial crisis; it lost approximately 25 percent of its GDP between 2008 and 2010. It was also the most overheated economy before the crisis. But in the second half of 2010, Latvia returned to economic growth. How did this happen so quickly? Current Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis, who shepherded Latvia through the crisis, and renowned author Anders slund discuss why the Latvian economy became so overheated; why an IMF and European Union stabilization program was needed; what the Latvian government did to resolve the financial crisis and why it made these choices; and what the outcome has been. This book offers a rare insider's look at how a national government responded to a global financial crisis, made tough choices, and led the country back to economic growth.

The postcommunist transitions to a market economy raised doubts about the political sustainability of an economic reform under democracy. At the same time, they turned the attention to the centrality of political factors in economic policy-making. Latvia has succeeded in proceeding into the consolidation phase of its market reforms while remaining committed to both political pluralism and macroeconomic austerity. Even if politics were not treated as a mere constraint, the basic question is still: how are the government's adjustment choices modified in the political process?

This paper reviews economic developments in Latvia during 1993–94. During 1994, Latvia began to enjoy the fruits of its steadfast efforts to achieve macroeconomic stabilization and the transformation to a market economy. GDP grew by 2 percent, after three years of economic decline in which output is estimated to have fallen by about 50 percent. Real wages also increased in 1994, after sharp declines in earlier years. Although the unemployment rate increased to about 61⁄2 percent of the labor force, it remained well below expectations and also below unemployment rates in Western Europe.

Document from the year 2008 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Region: Eastern Europe, grade: 1,0, University of Applied Sciences Kaiserslautern, course: Praxissemester, 25 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: [...] This paper examines Latvia?'s latest economic Environment since the enlargement of the European Union in 2004, with exceptional focus on the period 2003-2006 as well as Latvia?'s competitiveness. The year 2003 was selected, for it maight be interesting to compare the economic situation of the country just before the enlargement. This time interval was selected, since there are scarcely empirical collections and evaluations about this topic. Therefore, the execution supplies an approach and remarks, which are not present in this form yet. The goal of this work is to confer an overview of this specific topic. The paper is subdiveded into four main areas regarding Latvia?'s economic development: the economic competitiveness of the Baltic State, integration into the EU, national economy developments and foreign trade policy. Of particular importance are the several comparisons with selective countries; most of all the other Baltic States (Estonia and Lithuania), and Germany. Attention should also be paid to the current situation, analyses of relationship between trade and investments in Latvia. Moreover, I will make an attempt of a final consideration. The analysis is supported by a review of global trends as well as several figures and tables. Thereby most sources were afforded by the Ministry of Economics Republic of Latvia, the Bank of Latvia as well as Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia.