Bloomberg News Latvia’s Economy Grows at Slowest Pace in Almost Three Years By Aaron Eglitis February 10, 2014 Latvia’s economy expanded at the slowest pace in almost three years, missing economists forecasts as manufacturing output weighed on growth. Gross domestic product rose 3.5 percent from a year earlier in the fourth quarter, the central statistics office, based in the capital, Riga, said today in an e-mailed statement. That’s less than all five economist estimates in a Bloomberg survey. Output grew a 0.7 percent from the previous quarter, it said. Revised data will be released March 11. The Baltic nation’s economy grew by more than 5 percent in 2011 and 2012, after enduring a slump of more than a fifth of output in 2008-2010 when it sought a 7.5 billion-euro ($10.2 billion) international bailout. Latvia became the euro area’s 18th member on Jan. 1 after narrowing its budget deficit and stemming consumer-price growth. While retail trade expanded 3.9 percent from a year earlier in the October-December period and services advanced 6.7 percent, manufacturing grew 2.6 percent, the statistics office said. The yield on Latvia’s 2021 Eurobond fell two basis points to 2.385 percent at 12:03 p.m. in Riga, the lowest level since it began trading on Jan. 15. To contact the reporter on this story: Aaron Eglitis in Riga at [email protected]
Posted on: Tue, 11 Feb 2014 04:49:51 +0000