Real inflation reduction in Latvia could begin around 2009-2011, said Latvian Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis, speaking on the morning news program of the LNT commercial television on Wednesday. "We cannot do anything about it any earlier because there are objective reasons for the growth of inflation, and they have not been caused by Latvian internal policy or other financially irresponsible decisions, but by external factors," the premier explained. He said Latvia did not have much hope of reducing inflation in a year's time because energy prices, transport costs, etc. were growing. Kalvitis said that inflation in Latvia was being controlled currently and was currently below 7 percent. Latvia's accession to the euro-area in 2010-2013 has been discussed with the Bank of Latvia. The Latvian national statistics office announced this week that the average growth of consumer prices in 2006 had been 6.5 percent, and the government officials said that inflation was higher than they had expected. Initially Latvia planned to adopt the euro in 2008 but the plan has been thwarted by high inflation.
