Comments from Citadele bank economist Mārtiņš Āboliņš:

The Latvian economy performed significantly better than expected in 2021, and despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Latvia's GDP grew by 4.8% last year, according to information published by the Central Statistical Bureau. Economic recovery remains uneven, and this year has also started well for the Latvian economy.

For example, in January, retail turnover in Latvia increased by 15.6% compared to January 2021. Until now, there was reason to believe that the outlook for Latvia's economic growth in 2022 was positive, but Russia's invasion of Ukraine has significantly altered the political and economic situation globally, and this will also affect the Latvian economy.