Latvia Location:
56°57'N, 24°6'E
Latvia Geography:
Located on eastern shore of the Baltic Sea Latvia lies in East European Plain. It consists of fertile, low-lying plains, largely covered by forest, mostly pines, the highest point being the Gaizinkalns at 311.6 m (1,020 ft). Common species of wildlife in Latvia include deer, wild boar, fox, beaver and wolves[3] The Latvian climate is humid, continental and temperate in nature, with temperatures varying on average from -5 to +15 °C,[4] providing warm-water ports and water to more than 3,000 lakes and over 12,000 rivers, only seventeen of which are longer than 100 kilometers (sixty miles). The major rivers include the Daugava, the Lielupe, the Gauja, and the Salaca. An inlet of the Baltic Sea, the shallow Gulf of Riga is situated in the northwest of the country. Latvia's coastline extends for 531 kilometers. Its neighbors include Estonia on the north (267 kilometers of common border), Lithuania on the south (453 kilometers), Belarus on the southeast (141 kilometers), and Russia on the east (217 kilometers). Prior to World War II, Latvia bordered eastern Poland, but as a result of boundary changes by the Soviet Union, this part of Poland was attached to Belarus. Latvia also lost part of the former Abrene District (2% of its territory) to Russia in 1940s.
Latvia People:
Population
- January 2006 estimate 2,291,000 (143rd)
- 2000 census 2 375 000
- Density 36 /km2 (166th)
93 /sq mi
Latvia Government:
Government Parliamentary democracy
- President Vaira Vike-Freiberga
- Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis
Latvia Economy:
Since the year 2000 Latvia has had one of the highest (GDP) growth rates in Europe [5]. In 2006, annual GDP growth was 11.9% and inflation was 6.2%. Unemployment was 8.5% - almost unchanged compared to the previous two years. However, it has recently dropped to 6.1%, partly due to active economic migration, mostly to the Republic of Ireland and United Kingdom. Some believe that Latvia's flat tax is responsible for its high growth rate, but this is not universally accepted. Privatization has been mostly completed, except for some of the large state-owned utilities. Latvia is a member of the World Trade Organization (1999) and the European Union (2004).
The fast growing economy is regarded as a possible economic bubble, because it is driven mostly by growth of domestic consumption, financed by a serious increase of private debt, as well as negative foreign trade balance. The prices of real estate, which increases at amount approx. 5% a month (due to lack of tax legislation that could prevent speculations in real estate market), are perceived to be too high for the economy, which mainly produces low valued goods and raw materials. As stated by Ober-Haus, a real estate company operating in Poland and the Baltics, the prices of some segments of real estate market have been stabilized as of summer 2006 and some experts expect serious reduction of real estate prices in the near future. The government introduced special program to reduce inflation and remain high growth rates recently [6]. The main points of the plan are:
to create a non-deficit country budget for the current 2007 year and a budget with a surplus for 2008 and beyond
to tax any transaction concerning real estate that has been in a person's possession less than three years
to increase control of credit
to increase energy effectiveness in homes and business to guard against possible rises in energy costs
to increase work productivity and stimulate competition in business
Latvia plans to introduce the Euro as the country's currency but, due to the inflation being above EMU's guidelines, this is unlikely to happen before 2010.
Latvia More Information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latvia | 
