Latvia: retail trade growing in June 2017

Latvia’s retail trade volume this June, as compared with the same month of 2016, grew by 3.2%, which is slightly more than the average in the European Union, according to data from Eurostat. The most rapid retail trade growth in June was registered in Slovenia (+10.2%), followed by Croatia (+8.2%) and Slovakia (+8.1%). Estonia’s retail…

Latvia: Latvia’s bread market stabilizes

Latvia’s bread market has stabilized: demand for bread with high added value continues growing, some growth is also noted for traditional bread segments, according to analysts’ data. In Estonia and Lithuania, like Latvia, there was an increase in demand for high-quality bread. According to data from Nielsen, generally there is a slight decline (1%) on…

Latvia: GDP up in Q2 2017

In Q2 compared to the corresponding period of 2016 GDP grew by 4.1%, according to seasonally and working days non-adjusted data and by 4.8% according to seasonally and working days adjusted data. During Q2, the GDP was affected by an 8% increase in the volume of industrial production, 14% increase in construction, as well as…

Latvia: job cuts expected

As part of the state administration reform, job cuts are planned for 58,000 employees of different institutions. This does not apply to independent institutions such as the prosecutor’s office, Saeima, State Audit and Supreme Court. The number of officials employed in Latvian state administration is higher than the average in the EU, as concluded in…