Comments on: Latvia’s Economy Contracts Almost 18 Percent in Q4 2009

By: Club Lorem Ipsum :: Materias Grises » Archivo » Grecia: se acabó la fiesta

Thu, 15 Apr 2010 03:49:52 +0000

[...] cortesía del FMI y Angela Merkel. El porrazo que se han llevado los Letones ha sido horroroso; uno no sufre caídas del 18% del PIB por gusto. No parece nada claro que haya funcionado bien – de hecho, es perfectamente posible que tengan que [...]

By: r

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:24:07 +0000

Govs from Latvia,

For some reason, I was of the impression that it was IMF which actually was in favour of devaluation right from the outset (but did not insist if the government can come up with alternatives – more stringent budget cuts etc)

By: Jah

Jah — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 07:35:20 +0000

Here is more professional look http://www.citadiena.lv/2010/02/24/riga-mortis/#eng

By: Cita Diena | Riga mortis?

Cita Diena | Riga mortis? — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 06:55:16 +0000

[...] iekšzemes kopprodukta ātro novērtējumu 2009.gadā uzrādījusi kritumu par 18%. Paul Krugman un Edward Hugh nekavējoties izmantoja iespēju atkārtot, ka šīs “katastrofas” pamatā ir Latvijas [...]

By: Maija

Maija — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 22:58:55 +0000

to Gov from Latvia & Henrik

Gov, speak for yourself: I’d never be for joing any kind of Russia and that’s why I voted for adhesion in EU. Only.

By: rkka

rkka — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 00:06:45 +0000

Staggering. It does appear that Latvia’s economic policy is being decided from the grave by the moldering bones of Andrew Mellon.

By: Laku

Laku — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 10:18:30 +0000

This was why back in 2008 I recommended the Baltic countries should avoid repeating Finland’s folly from the early 1990s. Almost exactly the same situation with among other things a bank crisis and external shock. The ultimate poison were bloody-minded politicians and central bankers who for an overblown fear of “what will the markets think” turn defending the currency peg into such a virtue that they are ready to drive up unemployment to nearly 20%.

So what did the markets actually think? The speculators saw an impossible equation and attacked the Finnish currency. The government responded by attempting an internal devaluation by getting the unions to agree to lower wages. Fortunately the unions in the export-oriented industries refused to play ball, because they had literally nothing to gain from that arrangement. Talks collapsed and shortly thereafter the currency was devalued. Oh how the politicians hated losing face. But lo and behold, exports took off and growth finally resumed.

The enlightened self-interest of unions and capitalists beat myopic stubborness of “public servants”.

By: govs from Latvia

govs from Latvia — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:21:46 +0000

Of course, October elections will be very challening in Latvia.

By: govs from Latvia

govs from Latvia — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:18:55 +0000

Henrik,

about what time moment are you speaking regarding the realtionship with Russia? 1940? 1990? Now?

Latvia joined the EU after already being a NATO member, so an argument of EU being counterweight to Russia was limited. Wrt to NordStream pipeline it is still not clear if the big danger is coming form East, West oder North.

During the present crisis communication Russia is seemed by many as an escape of hopeless situation. If there still existed the old good Tsar Russia, Latvians will join it with a 99% vote.

By: Eurozoned Out | Progressive Fix

Eurozoned Out | Progressive Fix — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 14:41:14 +0000

[...] the most latest example, Latvia is putting up numbers that are even grimmer. The Latvian economy shrank by 18 percent the past year, and it’s not likely to rebound anytime soon. (To put that in perspective, U.S. [...]