Latvia

The name "Latvia" originates from the ancient Latgalians, one of four eastern Baltic tribes that formed the ethnic core of the Latvian people (ca. 8th-12th centuries A.D.). The region subsequently came under the control of Germans, Poles, Swedes, and finally, Russians. A Latvian republic emerged following World War I, but it was annexed by the USSR in 1940 - an action never recognized by the US and many other countries. Latvia reestablished its independence in 1991 following the breakup of the Soviet Union. Although the last Russian troops left in 1994, the status of the Russian minority (some 30% of the population) remains of concern to Moscow. Latvia joined both NATO and the EU in the spring of 2004.
==Economical characteristics==
* Currency: Lats (ISO code: LVL)
* Central bank discount rate: 6% (31 December 2008)
* Commercial banks lending rate: 11.85% (31 December 2008)
* Stock of money (M1): $6.688 billion (31 December 2008)
* Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $5.572 billion (31 December 2008)
===Statistics===
Statistic / Year 	1999 	2000 	2001 	2002 	2003 	2004 	2005 	2006 	2007 	2008
GDP (million USD)World Bank. "Latvia: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29. 	7 289 	7 833 	8 313 	9 315 	11 186	13 762	16 042	19 935	28 766	33 784
Govt. debt (% of GDP)World Bank. "Latvia: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29. 	11.974	12.017	13.658	 	 	 	 	 	 	22.816
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)World Bank. "Latvia: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29. 	28.623	26.071	23.826	26.069	26.036	25.578	26.269	27.196	26.575	26.023
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)World Bank. "Latvia: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29.	31.573	28.117	26.307	27.736	27.151	27.764	29.017	28.961	26.215	29.360
Debt to revenue (years) 	0.418 	0.461 	0.573 	 	 	 	 	 	 	0.877
===Monetary Aggregates===
Statistic @ End of year 	1992 	1993 	1994 	1995 	1996 	1997 	1998 	1999 	2000 	2001 	2002 	2003 	2004 	2005 	2006 	2007 	2008 	2009
M0 (million LVL)Monetary Base (xls, notes in Latvian), from The Bank of Latvia Banking and Monetary Statistics. Referenced 2010-10-06. 	108.4	224.9	269.4	273.6	340.7	441.7	471.5	526.2	566.7	617.1	755.1	806.8 	957.2 	1350.7 	2248.8 	2471.2 	2111.5 	1645.8
M1 (million LVL)Monetary Aggregates and Counterparts (in Accordance with the Methodology of the ECB) (xls, notes in Latvian), from The Bank of Latvia . Referenced 2010-10-06.	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	1,592.1	2,000.10	2,870.20	4,065.80	3,935.20	3,345.10	2,979.30
M2 (million LVL) 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	2,220.3	2,816.50	3,905.80	5,456.00	6,242.00	5,964.90	5,796.20
M3 (million LVL) 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	2,222.9	2,817.00	3,925.40	5,506.80	6,311.60	6,039.50	5,873.10
==References==
Note: statistical data was rounded. Different sources may use different methodologies for their estimates. Debt to revenue is calculated by dividing the two variables from their original ('unrounded') values. It represents how long it would a government take to repay its entire debt if it used its whole revenue for this purpose.
==External links==
* Latvia on Wikipedia
* Central bank of Latvia
* Country profile (pdf) from the Enterprise Studies page (part of the The World Bank Group)
* Studies from the Library of Congress (1986-1998)
* BBC country profile
Category:Countries