Part 473

Political parties and leaders: Democratic Party "Saimnieks" or DPS [Ziedonis CEVERS, chairman]; Latvia's Way or LC [Valdis BIRKAVS]; For Latvia [Joachim SIEGERIST]; Fatherland and Freedom or TB [Maris GRINBLATS]; Latvian Unity Party or LVP [A. KAULS]; Latvian National Conservative Party or LNNK [Anna SEILE]; Green Party or LSZ [O. BATAREVSK]; Latvian Farmers Union or LZS [A. ROZENTALS]; Christian Democrat Union or LKDS [Maris VITOLDS]; National Harmony Party or TSP [Janis JURKANS]; Latvian Socialist Party or LSP [F. STROGANOVS]; Latvian Liberal Party or LLP [J. DANOSS]; Political Association of the Underprivileged or MPA [B. PELSE, V. DIMANTS, J. KALNINS]; Latvian Democratic Labor Party or LDDP [J. BOJARS]; Party of Russian Citizens or LKPP [V. SOROCHIN, V. IVANOV]; Peoples Front of Latvia or LTF [Uldis AUGSTKALNS]; Political Union of Economists or TPA [E. KIDE]; Latvian National Democratic Party or LNDP [A. MALINS]; "Our Land" or MZ [M. DAMBEKALNE]; Anticommunist Union or PA [P. MUCENIEKS]; Latvian Social-Democratic Workers Party or LSDSP; Party for the Defense of Latvia's Defrauded People; Latvian Independence Party or LNP [Valdis KONOVALOVS]

International organization participation: BIS, CBSS, CCC, CE, EBRD, ECE, EU (applicant), FAO, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Intelsat (nonsignatory user), Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, NACC, OSCE, PFP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WEU (associate partner), WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTrO (applicant)

Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Ojars Eriks KALNINS chancery: 4325 17th Street NW, Washington, DC 20011 telephone: (202) 726-8213, 8214 FAX: (202) 726-6785

Diplomatic representation from the US: chief of mission : Ambassador Larry C. NAPPER embassy: Raina Boulevard 7, LV-1510, Riga mailing address: PSC 78, Box R, APO AE 09723 telephone: (2) 210-005 FAX : (2) 226-530

Flag description: three horizontal bands of maroon (top), white (half-width), and maroon

Economy

Economy - overview: In the five years following the implosion of the USSR in December 1991, the Latvian economy has made substantial progress toward establishing a modern market economy and widening economic ties with the West. Two major long-term concerns are the growing trade deficit and the impact of organized crime. The economy in 1996 has largely recovered from the mid-1995 collapse of several commercial banks - including Latvia's large bank, Bank Baltija - and a severe government budget crisis. Prime Minister SKELE has stated that he expects the country's GDP to grow 5% in 1997 through the implementation of the government's new economic reform program. In December 1996, the government passed a balanced 1997 budget - its first - that SKELE predicts will reduce inflation to 10% to 12% in 1997. Unemployment, which has held steady at about 6% over the past two years, reached roughly 7.5% in 1996. One of SKELE's key objectives for 1997 is to speed up the privatization program, which has lagged behind other areas of reform.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $9.4 billion (1996 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 2.5% (1996 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $3,800 (1996 estimate as extrapolated from World Bank estimate for 1994)

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 9% industry : 34% services: 57% (1994)

Inflation rate - consumer price index: 13.2% (1996 est.)

Labor force: total: 1.268 million (1995) by occupation: industry 41%, agriculture and forestry 16%, services 43% (1990)

Unemployment rate: 7.5% (1996 official est.)

Budget: revenues: $NA expenditures : $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA

Industries: buses, vans, street and railroad cars, synthetic fibers, agricultural machinery, fertilizers, washing machines, radios, electronics, pharmaceuticals, processed foods, textiles; dependent on imports for energy, raw materials, and intermediate products

Industrial production growth rate: 2% (1996 est.)

Electricity - capacity: 2.018 million kW (1993)

Electricity - production: 4.27 billion kWh (1994)

Electricity - consumption per capita: 2,197 kWh (1995 est.)

Agriculture - products: grain, sugar beets, potatoes, vegetables; meat, milk, eggs; fish

Exports: total value: $1.6 billion (f.o.b., 1996) commodities: machinery and equipment, timber, textiles, foodstuffs partners : Russia, other CIS, Germany, Sweden, UK

Imports: total value: $2.4 billion (c.i.f., 1996) commodities : fuels, machinery and equipment, chemicals partners: Russia, other CIS, Germany, Sweden, UK, Finland

Debt - external: $NA

Economic aid: recipient: ODA, $122 million (1993) note: commitments from the West and international institutions, $525 million (1992-95)

Currency: 1 Latvian lat (LVL) = 100 santims; introduced NA March 1993

Exchange rates: lats (LVL) per US$1 - 0.563 (January 1997), 0.551 (1996), 0.528 (1995), 0.560 (1994), 0.675 (1993), 0.736 (1992)

Fiscal year: calendar year