Latvia`s gross domestic product (GDP) is likely to contract by 1.5 to 1.7 percent this year and shrink by 3.5 to 3.9 percent in 2009, Bank of Latvia governor Ilmars Rimsevics said Thursday in Riga.

Belarus expects the IMF to decide soon on a two-billion-dollar loan to help the former Soviet republic deal with the global financial crisis, Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky said Wednesday.

Belarus expects the IMF to decide soon on a two-billion-dollar loan to help the former Soviet republic deal with the global financial crisis, Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky said Wednesday.

Belarus expects the IMF to decide soon on a two-billion-dollar loan to help the former Soviet republic deal with the global financial crisis, Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky said Wednesday.

Belarus expects the IMF to decide soon on a two-billion-dollar loan to help the former Soviet republic deal with the global financial crisis, Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky said Wednesday.

Belarus expects the IMF to decide soon on a two-billion-dollar loan to help the former Soviet republic deal with the global financial crisis, Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky said Wednesday.

Standard and Poor`s credit rating agency downgraded much sovereign debt issued by Latvia to BBB minus from BBB on Tuesday and put the country under watch.

The agency expressed several reservations about the state of the economy, and said it had cut ratings in view of a weekend state bailout for the second-biggest bank in the country.

The founder of Parex Banka, the second-biggest Latvian bank, said on Monday that he had been forced to seek a government takeover after an exodus of customers attracted by new state guarantees for Nordic rivals.

The founder of Parex Banka, the second-biggest Latvian bank, said on Monday that he had been forced to seek a government takeover after an exodus of customers attracted by new state guarantees for Nordic rivals.

Latvian 12-month inflation rate fell for the fifth month in a row to 13.8 percent in October, down from 14.9 percent in September, official data showed on Monday.

Compared with September, prices in October rose by 1.2 percent, according to the figures from the national statistics office.

The Latvian government has effectively nationalised the country`s second-largest bank, Parex Bank -- acquiring a controlling 51 percent stake for the symbolic sum of just a few dollars, Latvia`s Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis said Saturday.

Latvia`s economy contracted by 4.2 percent in the third quarter of this year compared with the same period of 2007, an official estimate showed Friday, marking a 15-year low point for the Baltic state.

The national statistics office, which released the data, blamed rapid declines in the manufacturing and service sectors.

Latvia should set a 2012 target for adopting the euro and step up preparations for the switch despite its current economic problems, the head of Baltic state`s central bank said on Friday.

Russia`s plans to deploy missiles in its Baltic Sea territory will undermine trust in the Kremlin and hit regional security, Latvia`s President Valdis Zatlers warned Thursday.

`Any deployment of short-range missiles in Europe and the Baltic Sea region should be seen as a certain reduction of the level of trust,` Zatlers told reporters.

The former Soviet republics of Latvia and Belarus on Thursday completed the 13-year process of mapping out their border, which is now part of the eastern rim of the European Union.

Officials from the two countries signed a final demarcation accord in the Latvian capital Riga, setting down their 141-kilometre (88-mile) frontier.

Latvian President Valdis Zatlers was due in Ireland this weekend for a three-day trip likely to be dominated by EU reform and clouded by the global financial crisis.

Zatlers, who arrives on Sunday, is due to meet President Mary McAleese and Prime Minister Brian Cowen, the Irish premier`s office said.

Latvia`s Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis said on Thursday that the once vibrant 2004 EU newcomer will fall into sharp recession next year, saying he expected the economy to contract by one percent.

`We will have to adjust the (2009) budget in accordance with the current Latvian central bank forecast, which is minus one percent,` Godmanis told reporters in Riga.

A German man returned home Tuesday with his young daughter, after being detained on board a plane in the Latvian capital amid a bitter custody battle with his Lithuanian ex-wife.

Latvian border guard spokeswoman Kristine Petersone said Michael Rinau was released because there were no legal grounds to hold him, noting also that courts had awarded him custody of three-year-old Luisa.

Latvian border guards Tuesday detained a German man on board a plane as he prepared to leave the country with his young daughter in a new twist in a bitter custody battle with his Lithuanian ex-wife.

Latvian lawmakers approved a more than doubling of guarantees for bank deposits in response to the global financial crisis, with a vote on Thursday.

In a 82-0 vote, the Baltic state`s parliament backed a bill raising the deposit guarantee to 50,000 euros (69,000 dollars) from the current 20,000 euros.

Latvia plans to appeal a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights demanding the Baltic EU member compensate Vasily Kononov, a World War II Soviet army veteran, a foreign ministry statement said Tuesday.

RIGA, Oct 10, 2008 (AFP) - If Russian president Dmitry Medvedev were to visit the zoo in Latvia's capital Riga this weekend, he would be sure to get a discount -- not because of his position, but because of his name.

RIGA, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - Stocks continued a month-long nosedive on Wednesday on exchanges in the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

The OMX Baltic Benchmark index dropped 8.44 percent from 339.88 at the opening bell to 311.18 at the closing.

TASHKENT, Oct 6, 2008 (AFP) - Uzbek President Islam Karimov said Monday he regretted a lack of European investment in his country, while boasting of a rosy economic outlook.

RIGA, Oct 6, 2008 (AFP) - As Latvia struggles with recession, betting on official monthly inflation figures has become an opportunity to strike it rich with bookmakers offering attractive odds.

Internet users can place wagers on September year-on-year annual inflation figures due to be released by the Latvian office of statistics on Wednesday.

RIGA, September 10, 2008 (AFP) - Latvia has fallen into recession after official statistics released this week showed negative growth for two quarters in a row, mirroring similar economic challenges in fellow Baltic states Estonia and Lithuania.

TALLINN, August 28, 2008 (AFP) - The presidents of Estonia, Latvia and Poland were to hold a snap meeting later Thursday to devise a joint position ahead of the EU's Monday emergency summit on the Georgia crisis.

'Presidents of Poland, Latvia and Estonia will meet tonight in Tallinn to discuss the crisis in Georgia,' Toomas Sildam, Estonia's presidential spokesman told AFP.

Latvia and Lithuania on Monday hailed the release of jailed opposition leader Alexander Kozulin in ...

Latvia`s President Valdis Zatlers called Friday for international peacekeepers in Georgia, as he ...

A Latvian soldier was killed and three were injured Monday when a bomb exploded in Maymana in ...

Growth in Latvia, one of the EU`s ex-communist `Tiger` economies, all but stalled in the second ...

Latvian 12-month inflation continued to fall in July, dropping to 16.7 percent from 17.7 percent ...

RIGA, August 3, 2008 (AFP) - Latvia's President Valdis Zatlers Sunday announced he would submit legislation granting the people the power to force snap elections, after a referendum failed because of insufficient voter turnout.

RIGA, August 2, 2008 (AFP) - Latvians failed Saturday to win the constitutional right to oust the Baltic state's parliament, despite an overwhelming 'yes' vote in a referendum, after too few people turned out, initial results showed.

RIGA, August 2, 2008 (AFP) - Latvians were voting Saturday in a referendum that could give the Baltic state's electorate the constitutional right to dissolve parliament, a power supporters say is needed to clip the wings of arrogant politicians.

RIGA, July 17, 2008 (AFP) - The owners of an apartment in the central Latvian town of Smiltene escaped unscathed when lightning struck their home, but their dining table fared far worse, according to a Thursday report.

RIGA, July 10, 2008 (AFP) - Latvia, seen as a straight-laced, introverted member of the Baltic family, lets loose every five years with a huge songfest that long powered its drive for freedom under decades of Moscow-led rule.

RIGA, July 8, 2008 (AFP) - Latvian inflation dipped in June to 17.7 percent on a 12-month basis, offering consumers in the Baltic state a ray of hope after more than a year of constant rises, official data showed on Tuesday.