Latvian Economy Contracts 0.4%

(RTTNews) - Latvia's economy contracted for the second straight quarter in the three months ending December, preliminary data from the statistical office showed on Friday.

Gross domestic product fell a non-adjusted 0.4 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter, slower than the 1.0 percent decrease in the third quarter. Thus, the economy has now turned into a technical recession.

On the expenditure side, household expenditure rose 0.6 percent, and government consumption surged by 7.6 percent. Meanwhile, investments in gross fixed capital formation dropped by 6.7 percent.

Exports of goods and services dropped 1.7 percent, and imports were 2.4 percent lower.

On a seasonally and calendar-adjusted basis, GDP also fell 0.4 percent in the December quarter after falling 0.9 percent in the previous quarter.

On a quarterly basis, the seasonally and calendar-adjusted GDP recovered 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter after falling 0.2 percent in the September quarter.