Location

The Baltic country of Latvia is located at the crossroads of northern and eastern Europe, on the east coast of the Baltic Sea. A republic, Latvia is bordered by Estonia to the north, Russia and Belarus to the east and Lithuania to the south, and has a maritime border with Sweden to the west. Other neighbouring countries include Finland, Poland and Germany. Latvia's strategic location has been the major influence on the country’s diverse historical and cultural experiences. To this day, it is this location which underpins Latvia’s economic success.

Fact Sheet

Political system	Republic, parliamentary democracy
International membership	Member of EU and NATO since 2004 Member of WTO since 1998
Capital	Rīga
Other major cities	Daugavpils , Liepāja, Jelgava, Jūrmala, Ventspils, Rēzekne
Population (2009)	2.249 million
Area	64 589 km2
Language	Latvian (official); Russian, English and German are also widely spoken
Legal system	Based on civil law
Currency	1 'Lats' (LVL) = 100 'santīms'
Average exchange rate (2008)	1 LVL = 1.423 EUR pegged to EUR since 2005
GDP (2008)	EUR 23.112 billion
GDP growth (2008)	-4.6%
GDP per capita (2008)	EUR 10 119
Inflation rate (2008)	15.4%
Accumulated FDI (2009)	EUR 8.158 billion
Accumulated FDI per capita (2009)	EUR 3 627

Source: Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia, 2010

Additional information at:
www.csb.lv – Central Statistic Bureau of Latvia
www.bank.lv – Central Bank of Latvia
www.li.lv – Latvian Institute
www.liaa.gov.lv – Investment and Development Agency of Latvia
www.exim.lv – Online version of this directory

Investment Ratings (long term)*

Agency	Foreign Currency	Local Currency
Fitch Ratings	BB+ (Outlook: Negative)	BBB- (Outlook: Negative)
Moody’s	Baa3 (Outlook: Stabile)	Baa3 (Outlook: Stabile)
Standard&Poor’s	BB (Outlook: Stabile)	BB (Outlook: Stabile)

*As at April 2010

Additional information on ratings of particular industries and/or banks:
www.fitchratings.com
www.moodys.com
www.standardandpoors.com