The forecast for the GDP growth for next year is left at 2.5%.
Swedbank acting chief economist in Latvia Agnese Buceniece told the press on Thursday that Latvia’s GDP growth is still the steepest in the Baltic states, while the growth is expected to slow down next year mostly because of slower manufacturing growth.
At the same time, Estonia’s economic growth forecasts have not changed – 3% in 2019 and 2.7% in 2020, while Lithuania’s GDP growth has been raised from 2.7% to 3% this year, and is left at 2% in 2020.
“Latvia last year had the steepest growth in the past seven years, even though the majority of economists expected slowing down. The growth was promoted by strong domestic demand – investments and consumption,” said Buceniece.
She said that the world economic growth forecast has been lowered – to 3.2% from 3.5% in 2019, while in 2020 it has been raised to 3.5% from 3.4%.
Latvia’s average annual inflation has not been changed and is projected at 2.5% this yer and 2.3% next year.
At the same time, Lithuania’s average annual forecast has been reduced from 2.7% to 2.5 percent for this year, and kept at 2.5% for next year. For Estonia, the average annual inflation forecast has been cut from 2.9% to 2.4% this year and retained at 2.4% for next year.
