RIGA - The latest round of official inflation statistics has set alarm bells ringing across the Baltic region.
September's statistics show significant increases in all three Baltic
states. Compared with August, inflation rose to 7.1 percent from 5.5
percent in Lithuania, 7.2 percent from 6.1 percent in Estonia and 's
worst of all 's 11.4 percent from 10.1 percent in Latvia.
Such damning numbers show that a recent warning by government minister
Aigars Stokenbergs that Latvian inflation could be running at 15
percent by the end of the year may even be an underestimation.
All three Baltic governments are belatedly putting new
anti-inflationary plans in place, but the fear remains that it's all too
little, too late, and that a damaging financial crash may be looming.
