RIGA, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Latvian economy is expected to expand by 3.9 percent this year showing the strongest growth among the three Baltic countries, according to an updated forecast released by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) on Friday.
Compared with the previous forecast released by the bank in May 2018, Latvia's GDP growth forecast has now been raised by 0.4 percentage points.
In 2019, Latvia's economic growth is likely to decelerate to 3.5 percent, the EBRD said.
According to the updated forecast, Lithuania's GDP will grow by 3.4 percent and the Estonian economy will increase by 3.6 percent in 2018. While the growth prognosis for Lithuania has been revised upwards by 0.2 percentage point, that for Estonia has been cut by 0.2 percentage points from May.
EBRD representatives said that during the first half of this year growth picked up in Central Europe and the Baltic states due to increasing consumer spending and wage growth. However, the growth rate in the region is expected to gradually slow down, from 4.3 percent this year to 3.5 percent in 2019 amid increasingly severe labor shortages, slower trade growth in the world and a deterioration of the European Union's (EU) business environment.