Brussels, 06/03/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 5 March, Latvia officially applied to join the euro by asking the European Commission to draw up a convergence report to see whether Latvia will be ready to join as of 1 January 2014. Euro Commissioner Olli Rehn welcomed Latvia's desire to join the other seventeen countries in the eurozone, seeing it as a sign of confidence in the single currency. The conclusions of the Commission's investigation are expected in late May or early June, but Olli Rehn already indicates that Latvia is doing well. It has emerged from the deep recession it entered in 2008 and 2009, thanks to aid from the EU and IMF. It now has the strongest growth in the EU27. After GDP in Latvia remaining at 5.3% in 2012, the Commission forecasts that the economy will grow by 3.8% in 2013 and 4.1% in 2014. Latvia's strong exports have enabled it to reduce unemployment, although it still remains high. Rehn said that Latvia is in fact an example of how macroeconomic imbalances, however severe, can be successfully addressed and how a country can emerge stronger once such an adjustment is completed. (EL/transl.fl)