In October, a small deficit in the balance of payments

The negative balance of the current account was 29.2 mil. lats in October. The month-on-month deterioration of the current account resulted both from imports growing slightly faster than exports in this period and from the profits gained by foreign investors, which caused the balance of the revenue account to turn negative.

The negative balance of the foreign trade of goods increased to 121.4 mil. lats, impacted by the purchases of investment goods. The positive balance of the foreign trade of services increased slightly (to 76.3 mil. lats), with the services imports falling at a faster rate than exports month-on-month (it was mostly the value of financial services received that shrank).

The positive balance of current transfers account, at 33.4 mil. lats, remained close to the level of the previous periods, income from EU funds grew slightly.

The positive balance of the finance account grew to 62.1 mil. lats, with foreign direct investment in Latvia rising by 73.1 mil. lats. 

Even though the foreign trade of goods is yet to be impacted by the negative external factors, the trends of economic development in Latvia's main trading partners as well as the already observed negative changes in the confidence indicators in the fourth quarter point to a diminishing activity in foreign trade transactions in the coming periods.

Latvia's balance of payments (data)