The Republic of Latvia occupies an area of 64,589 square kilometers, and its population is over 2.2 million.
It officially joined the European Union on May 1, 2004.
Although the Latvian Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was steadily growing to become one of the highest in Europe, the economic downturn in 2008-2009 largely affected it and it collapsed. As a result, the economy fell by 18% in the beginning of 2009. Eurostat data reported it as the biggest fall in the EU.
Privatization has been active which led to the development of a prosperous private sector. Foreign investment is not yet grown to the levels in north-central Europe.
Latvia’s currency is lats. It plans to replace it by the euro soon, but the inflation is still too high—11%. Although the country targets 2012 to accept the euro, the National Bank of Latvia proposed 2013 as a more realistic date.
Today’s Euro to Latvian Lati exchange rate
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