Inflation in Latvia hit a staggering 21.8 per cent in October 2022, according to the latest data from the country’s Central Statistical Bureau.
The greatest focus of the price rises has been on goods and services relating to a wide range of industries such as housing, food and nonalcoholic beverages among others features of the service sectors such as transport, recreation and hospitality.
Baltic News Network has broken down the figures, showing that food prices have been particularly badly hit with an average rise of 29.5% compared to October 2021. Within this figure is included a 36.6% rise in the price of bread, 63.9% for flour and cereals and 41.7% for rice. There were also record increases in the price of certain meats such as poultry (35.2%) and beef (40.6%).
The impact of the ongoing increase in global fuel prices has also been felt across the board due to the knock-on effect that these increases have on industries relying on fuel for transport. With a 40% increase in the price of diesel and 23.4 per cent in the price of petrol, this has led to rises in the price charged by other industries.
One silver lining has been that the intervention of the Latvian government to protect consumers from higher electricity bills has actually led to a price drop of 28.9%. This is a result of the policy which applies a fixed fee of 0.16 EUR/kWh for the first 100 kWh used each month. This national support scheme runs from 1 October 2022 to 30 April 2023.
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