RIGA - Annual inflation in Latvia is still much higher than in neighboring Lithuania and Estonia, according to the latest information from statistics offices of the three Baltic states. In March 2006 the consumer price index in Latvia grew 6.5 percent from the same month in 2005, while the same index in Estonia rose 4 percent and in Lithuania 3.1 percent.
The average consumer price level in Latvia this March increased as compared to February, mostly due to rising prices for clothing and footwear.
In Lithuania consumer prices were up 0.2 percent month-on-month as a result of growing prices for food and beverages as well as medical products and services, while prices in Estonia last month were up 0.1 percent from February and were affected mostly by falling fuel prices and growth of utility charges, vegetable and fruit prices.
