RIGA, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- After two months of downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Latvian exports rebounded in June, jumping 8.6 percent against May, the national statistics office reported Tuesday.
In June this year, Latvia's foreign trade turnover dropped 3.5 percent from the respective period a year ago to 2.1 billion euros (2.47 billion U.S. dollars) at current prices. Compared to June 2019, Latvia's foreign trade gap narrowed, as the share of exports grew from 44.8 percent to 45.8 percent in June 2020.
In the first half of this year, Latvia's foreign trade turnover contracted 8.1 percent from the same period last year to 12.92 billion euros at current prices, with exports making up 6.05 billion euros and imports accounting for 6.87 billion euros, the statistics office said.
Commenting on the latest foreign trade data, Peteris Strautins, an economist at Luminor Bank, said that the June statistics allowed Latvian exporters to "draw a line under the first phase of the coronavirus era," which the Baltic country's producers and other export-related sectors overcame very successfully.
Strautins also voiced confidence that Latvian exporters will show strong performance also in July and August, noting that the latest global macroeconomic figures have been surprisingly good.
"There are some concerns about September and the last quarter of this year though. The virus takes advantage of people's growing optimism. Restrictions on travel and assembly are being tightened again, and they will have economic consequences," the economist said. Enditem
