duction experiencing even steeper declines. Nevertheless, the
government's tough monetary policies and reform program, which foster
the development of the private sector and market mechanisms, have kept
inflation low, created a dynamic private sector - much of which is not
captured in official statistics - and expanded trade ties with the
West. Much of agriculture is already privatized and the government
plans to step up the pace of privatization of state enterprises. The
economy is now poised for recovery and will benefit from the country's
strategic location on the Baltic Sea, its well-educated population,
and its diverse - albeit largely obsolete - industrial structure.
National product:
GDP - purchasing power equivalent - $13.2 billion (1993 estimate from
the UN International Comparison Program, as extended to 1991 and
published in the World Bank's World Development Report 1993; and as
extrapolated to 1993 using official Latvian statistics, which are very
uncertain because of major economic changes since 1990)
National product real growth rate:
-5% (1993 est.)
National product per capita:
$4,810 (1993 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
2% per month (1993 average)
Unemployment rate:
5.6% (December 1993)
Budget:
revenues:
$NA
expenditures:
$NA, including capital expenditures of $NA
Exports:
$429 million from non-FSU countries (f.o.b., 1992)
commodities:
oil products, timber, ferrous metals, dairy products, furniture,
textiles
partners:
Russia, other CIS countries, Western Europe
Imports:
$NA
commodities:
fuels, cars, ferrous metals, chemicals
partners:
Russia, other CIS countries, Western Europe
External debt:
$NA
Industrial production:
growth rate -38% (1992 est.)
Electricity:
capacity:
2,140,000 kW
production:
5.8 billion kWh
consumption per capita:
2,125 kWh (1992)
Industries:
employs 41% of labor force; highly diversified; dependent on imports
for energy, raw materials, and intermediate products; produces buses,
vans, street and railroad cars, synthetic fibers, agricultural
machinery, fertilizers, washing machines, radios, electronics,
pharmaceuticals, processed foods, textiles
Agriculture:
employs 16% of labor force; principally dairy farming and livestock
feeding; products - meat, milk, eggs, grain, sugar beets, potatoes,
vegetables; fishing and fish packing
Illicit drugs:
transshipment point for ill