According to Macro Oultook of Citadele Bank, the economic recovery in the Baltics has been significantly faster than in other European countries, and less than two years after the start of the pandemic, all three Baltic States have exceeded previous GDP levels. Latvia's GDP in the third quarter of 2021 was 1.7% higher than in the fourth quarter of 2019, while Lithuania and Estonia's GDP is now respectively 4% and 5.1% higher than at the end of 2019. Meanwhile, GDP in the euro area as a whole is still 0.3% lower than before the COVID-19 pandemic. Interestingly, the economic growth of the Baltic States in 2021 will be even faster than forecasted in September 2020, before the second and third waves of the pandemic.

Mārtiņš Āboliņš, Economist of Citadele bank explains that this shows both the flexibility and ability of entrepreneurs to adapt to the new situation and the importance of state support to the economy. However, the economic recovery is uneven and large-scale global economic support measures are increasingly contributing to rising prices. In his opinion, successfully curbing inflation will be the most important issue for the economy in 2022. Therefore, the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic will be different from the first two years, but there is no reason to believe that the economy will not continue to grow.

Read more about the latest observations and forecasts for the Latvian and Baltic economies in the topics HERE.

To view the data in graphs click HERE