Ignore currency devaluation rumors: Latvia president

  • 2007-02-23
  • From wire reports
Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga has called on the public not to listen to rumors about the potential devaluation of the national currency, the lat.
The president said the widely-circulated rumor could cause damage if naïve people continue to spread the misinformation.
Vike-Freiberga said she believed the rumor had been spread by somebody wishing to benefit financially from a currency crisis. She called on law enforcement authorities to find the people responsible the rumor.
Authorities have already tracked down the mobile phone numbers of several people who sent text messages about the devaluation.
Bank of Latvia president Ilmars Rimsevics said rumors on the possible devaluation of the lat were intentionally launched on Fri. Jan 16 ahead of the weekend, when financial markets were closed. Rimsevics said currency exchangers might benefit from such a fuss.
Rimsevics repeatedly said that people's concerns about devaluation of the lat have no grounds.
The rumors on the possible devaluation of the lat started spreading after economist Morten Hansen from the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga suggested that it might be necessary to devaluate Latvia's national currency. Hansen's analysis of Latvia's current macroeconomic situation was published in a comment piece in Latvia's Diena daily newspaper in mid-February.