On June 8, Līva Zorgenfreija, Chief Economist of Swedbank Latvia addressed members on economic prospects and provided a macroeconomic outlook as well as answered members' questions. She explained that Latvian economy did well during 2020, but worse than the rest of the Baltics and strong growth of GDP is expected in 2022.

According to Ms. Zorgenfreija, the manufacturing sector, goods exports, and export orders have been holding up rather well. Private consumption has also shown a positive trend, thanks to customers and businesses adapting, and some restrictions eased. Government support has been scaled up notably, and the budget deficit is expected to be larger this year than in 2020. Labor maket was stable and wage growth remained very strong throughout 2020 and will remain so in 2021.

To view the presentation by Līva Zorgenfreija

About the Speaker: 
Līva Zorgenfreija is the Chief Economist at Swedbank Latvia. Prior to joining Swedbank, Līva worked as an economist at the Monetary policy department of the Bank of Latvia, and was a member of Working group on Forecasting at the ECB.  She has gained experience in the Directorate-General for Economic and Financial affairs of the European Commission (Belgium) and Rothschild HDF Investment Solutions (France). Liva acquired a BSc in economics, politics and international studies from the University of Warwick (UK) in 2010, a master of research in economics at Sciences Po and a masters degree in economics and public policy from École Polytechnique, Sciences Po and ENSAE (France) in 2012.

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