Economy (Latvia)
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     Overview:
         Latvia is in the process of reforming the centrally planned economy
         inherited from the former USSR into a market economy. Prices have been
         freed, and privatization of shops and farms has begun. Latvia lacks natural
         resources, aside from its arable land and small forests. Its most valuable
         economic asset is its work force, which is better educated and disciplined
         than in most of the former Soviet republics. Industrial production is highly
         diversified, with products ranging from agricultural machinery to consumer
         electronics. One conspicuous vulnerability: Latvia produces only 10% of its
         electric power needs. Latvia in the near term must retain key commercial
         ties to Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine while moving in the long run toward
         joint ventures, technological support, and trade ties to the West. Because
         of the efficiency of its mostly individual farms, Latvians enjoy a diet that
         is higher in meat, vegetables, and dairy products and lower in grain and
         potatoes than diets in the 12 non-Baltic republics of the USSR. Good
         relations with Russia are threatened by animosity between ethnic Russians
         (34% of the population) and native Latvians.
     GDP:
         purchasing power equivalent - $NA; per capital NA; real growth rate - 8%
         (1991)
     Inflation rate (consumer prices):
         approximately 200% (1991)
     Unemployment rate:
         NA%
     Budget:
         revenues $NA; expenditures $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA (1991)
     Exports:
         $239 million (f.o.b., 1990)
       commodities:
         food 14%, railroad cars 13%, chemicals 12%
       partners:
         Russia 50%, Ukraine 15%, other former Soviet republics 30%, West 5%
     Imports:
         $9.0 billion (c.i.f., 1989)
       commodities:
         machinery 35%, petroleum products 13%, chemicals 9%
       partners:
         NA
     External debt:
         $650 million (1991 est.)
     Industrial production:
         growth rate 0% (1991)
     Electricity:
         1,975,000 kW capacity; 6,500 million kWh produced, 2,381 kWh per capita
         (1990)
     Industries:
         employs 33.2% of labor force; highly diversified; dependent on imports for
         energy, raw materials, and intermediate products; produces buses, vans,
         street and railroad cars, synthetic fibers, agricultural machinery,
         fertilizers, washing machines, radios, electronics, pharmaceuticals,
         processed foods, textiles
     Agriculture:
         employs 23% of labor force; principally dairy farming and livestock feeding;
         products - meat, milk, eggs, grain, sugar beets, potatoes, and vegetables;
         fishing and fish packing
     Illicit drugs:
         transshipment point for illicit drugs from Central and Southwest Asia to
         Western Europe