foreign trade

In February 2013, the external trade turnover of Latvian goods remained almost the same month-on-month, with exports increasing by 1.9% and imports dropping by 1.6%. The annual rise in Latvian exports reached 9.6% in February, which is a good indicator, particularly against the background of the unstable external environment.

In January 2013, the Latvian external trade turnover of goods dropped, with exports down by 4.6% and imports by 4.1% month-on-month. The drop in external trade activity was determined both by seasonal factors and a weaker external demand. The annual growth rate was still positive: year-on-year, exports grew by 11.7% and imports by 3.2%. The external trade balance of Latvian goods thus continued to improve, evidencing the durability of competitiveness of Latvian producers.

Despite the unfavourable developments in the global economy and the low total demand in the external markets, Latvian external trade activity grew substantially in 2012, exceeding even the most optimistic predictions. Owing to the improved competitiveness achieved by Latvian entrepreneurs in the economic renewal period of the previous three years, the increase in the exports of Latvian goods was more rapid year-on-year (15.0%) than imports (12.7%).

A surplus of 53.6 mil. lats formed in Latvia’s current account in November 2012 as Latvian export growth exceeded that of imports and the amount of funding from the European Union (EU) increased and the income of foreign direct investors dropped slightly.

The external trade turnover drop of 4.1% in November did not much change this year’s success story in external trade, since the annual growth rate of Latvian goods exports still remained high: in November, goods exports increased 27.9% year-on-year. As predicted previously, the annual increases in goods exports and imports in 2012 will exceed 10%.

In October, the Latvian current account deficit rose slightly, to 46.4 mil. lats as a result of a rise in goods imports under the impact of some one-off transactions. As these are not factors that have a lasting influence, no substantial increase in the current account is expected in the coming months.

Albeit the overall demand in external markets is low, in October 2012 Latvian external trade of goods retained remarkable annual growth rate because of the competitiveness regained during the crisis years. The annual export growth was at 22.6%, which is almost twice that of imports (annual growth at 12.1%).

At a time when global growth remains unstable and total demand in external markets is low, the export trade of Latvian goods have maintained impressive annual and third quarter growth rates, as a result of competitiveness regained during the producer crisis. In the first nine months of 2012, the export volumes of goods have increased by 12.6% and import volumes by 12.8% year-on-year.

While in Western Europe worry about an economic recession continues, Latvian export volumes continue to grow rapidly, reaching a new monthly high in August. Month-on-month, the external trade turnover grew 8.1% in August. With export growing 12.7% and import 4.6% month-on-month, the goods trade balance improved and the import excess over export in August dropped to 127.6 mil. lats.