Brussels, 04/06/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 5 June 2013, the European Commission will recommend that Latvia should join the eurozone on 1 January 2014. The European Central Bank (C+EVB) will do likewise.
The Commission will publish a report stating that Latvia has met the exchange rate, public debt, public deficit and inflation criteria for joining the eurozone. There won't be any surprises, a close source told this newsletter.
In its spring economic forecasts, the European Commission expects Latvia to see growth of 3.7% in GDP in 2013, which is high, but not as high as the 5.6% recorded in 2012. The Commission expects inflation of 1.4%, close to the eurozone average of 1.6%. The Commission says that the Latvian public deficit will continue to sit at 1.2% of GDP in 2013 on current policies, while the country's public debt is expected to increase from 40.7% to 43.2% of GDP. The Commission expects unemployment to reach 13.7% of the working population in 2013 and then continue to decline from the highs reached during the economic crisis of a few years ago (unemployment reached 19.8% in 2010).
After Estonia, Latvia is the second Baltic State to join the eurozone, and Lithuania hopes to join on 1 January 2015. (MB/transl.fl)