Latvian GDP Growth Revised Up in Third Quarter on Manufacturing

Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Latvia’s economy grew at a quicker pace in the third quarter than previously estimated as domestic consumption, industrial production and construction expanded.

Gross domestic product rose by a revised 6.6 percent from a year earlier, the Riga-based statistics office said. That compares with a previous estimate for a 5.7 percent expansion and is the fastest pace since the fourth quarter of 2007, when the economy expanded 10 percent. GDP grew a seasonally adjusted 1.7 percent from the previous three months, the office said.

The Baltic country’s economy began to recover in the second half of 2010 after a debt-fueled property bubble burst, export markets closed and lending tightened, erasing almost a quarter of GDP. The government will have passed tax increases and spending cuts of about 17.8 percent when including next year’s budget since turning to a group led by the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund for a 7.5 billion-euro ($10 billion) loan in 2008.

--Editor: Douglas Lytle, Andrew Langley

LAGDPYOY@US <Index>

To contact the reporter on this story: Aaron Eglitis in Riga at aeglitis@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Balazs Penz at bpenz@bloomberg.net