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International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics Wednesday, 24.04.2024, 05:31

SEB: Latvia’s GDP to show the fastest growth in Baltics in 2017

BC, Riga, 24.05.2016.Print version
Latvia’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 2016 is projected at 2.7% and in 2017 at 3.5%, said SEB Banka’s economist at the presentation of Nordic Outlook on May 24th, cites LETA.

Lithuania’s economy is expected to grow 2.8% this year and 3.2% next year, while Estonia’s GDP growth is forecast at 2% in 2016 and 2.4% in 2017.

 

"The beginning of the year was weak, but in the coming quarters the growth should speed up, this can be seen also in the improvement of the economic sentiment index," said Dainis Gaspuitis.

 

He said that Latvia’s economy is positively affected by a good growth of domestic demand, supported by a strong wage growth. As inflation has been close to zero, purchasing capacity is growing.

 

The economist said that there was a very large growth in trade of non-food products, for example, 6.5% in Latvia and even 11.1% in Estonia last year. "People have money, they are buying new cars, household appliances, at the same time, they do not risk with long-term investments, for example, housing loans," the economist said.

 

Gaspuitis said that investment activity still was low, and foreign direct investments have been shrinking for several years. "It has been due to geopolitical uncertainty, delays with availability of the EU structural funds. Attraction of investments is a global challenge and it is not realistic to dream about a very steep growth," he said.






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