Analytics, Economics, EU – Baltic States, Financial Services, GDP, Latvia

"We will be an exemplary country according to all criteria. Latvia will be shown as an example," said the minister, commenting Latvia's economic development in 2012.

Vilks pointed out that the events in the bloc's economy have affected Latvia, and the country's economic growth has slowed down in the second half-year. However, there are still all chances of reaching at least 4% GDP growth this year, since Latvia's economy has strong foundations and is located in an economic region that was not as severely affected by the crisis as southern Europe was, writes LETA.

The minister was skeptical about the next year, pointing out that much will depend on the decisiveness of European institutions. If the required decisions are made this fall, the next year could be comparatively successful, if not, it will be nervous.

In any case, Latvia's economy will still grow next year, even if not by the currently-predicted 3.7%, then at least by 2%.

Commenting Latvia's path toward the introduction of the euro on January 1, 2014, Vilks admitted that the country's international prestige has considerably increased recently. Vilks, Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis (Unity) and Bank of Latvia President Ilmars Rimsevics use this when talking with the strong eurozone countries – the Benelux, Scandinavia and Germany.

The leading eurozone countries see Estonia's contribution and realize that Latvia, according to indicators, is the same and could become an exemplary country of the euro area, said the minister.