"The recession is over" - Dombrovskis

RIGA - Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis has officially declared an end to the country's economic crisis with the recent release of positive economic data and forecasts.

"The recession is over and on the basis of certain indicators it can be expected that in the second part of the year Latvia's economy will regain growth in terms of both quarterly and annual indicators," the prime minister told journalists at a joint press conference with economy minister Artis Kampars. 

It will be welcome news for Latvia, which has arguably suffered the worst economic crisis in the EU. The country saw GDP growth rates plummet from around +20% to nearly -20% in just a few quarters.

"This means a more positive gross domestic product, tax income, employment and other rates," he said.

Meanwhile, Economy Minister Artis Kampars (New Era) predicted that year-on-year growth would be seen in the economy by this year's third quarter.

The announcement came following a report from Latvia's statistics that indicated two quarters of consecutive GDP growth - the traditional marker for the end of an economic recession.

In Quarter 1 growth was 0.3% but in Quarter 2 growth was 0.1% in comparison to Quarter 1.