RIGA, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Bank of Latvia has revised down the Baltic country's economic growth forecast for this and next year, the central bank's governor Ilmars Rimsevics said on Friday.
The gross domestic product (GDP) forecast for 2019 has been cut to 2.5 percent from 2.9 percent from the previous forecast in June while the GDP growth forecast for 2020 has been reduced to 2.6 percent from 3.1 percent projected before.
"As the global and euro zone economies are slowing down, growth in Latvia is also gradually becoming slower," Rimsevics told a news conference.
He said that export is decreasing due to the falling demand from Latvia's main trade partners, therefore domestic demand plays the main role in sustaining the country's economic growth.
Private consumption is the most stable component of domestic demand as the growth of investments is becoming slower due to geopolitical uncertainties, Rimsevics noted.
"It is becoming more and more clear that we have passed the peak of an economic cycle and growth of the economy is gradually decreasing," the central bank's governor observed.
In 2018, Latvia's GDP grew 4.8 percent, the steepest growth in the past seven years. Enditem
