Group: Latvia economy risks hard landing - by Gary Peach
International analysts on Wednesday welcomed a package of inflation-cutting measures adopted in Latvia, but warned that the efforts may be "too little too late" and that the fastest-growing economy in the European Union still risked a hard landing. On Tuesday the Latvian government approved a number of emergency measures to combat economic overheating, including balancing the budget, taxing real estate transactions and regulating bank lending.
"I think these measures are welcome, but they're quite late," said Lars Christensen, senior analyst at Danske Bank in Copenhagen. "At this point it's seems pretty difficult to avoid a hard landing in the Latvian economy, especially in the property market." Latvia had the fastest growing economy in the EU in 2005 -- 10.8 percent growth in GDP -- and fourth quarter growth in 2006 was 11.9 percent.
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