Latvia’s trade deficit at five-month high
12.03.2010, 14:24Latvia’s trade deficit was the widest in five months in January as the recession damped demand and exports fell. Bloomberg quoted Statistics Latvia saying that the shortfall totaled 76.8 million lats, compared with 69.7 million lats in December.
Latvia’s economy is struggling to recover from the European Union’s deepest recession. Exports fell 14.7 percent from the previous month, while households and businesses are purchasing fewer imports as they adjust to shrinking incomes and rising joblessness. Unemployment rate hit 19.7 percent in final three months of last year.
Gross domestic product shrank 16.9 percent in the fourth quarter, the slowest pace of decline last year, as exports and manufacturing begin to recover. Exports increased 4.7 percent on an annual basis, the statistics office said today.