Reasons for soaring food prices should be sought - Kazaks

RIGA - It is necessary to look for the reasons behind the soaring food prices, because price hikes in this group are much steeper than the global trend, Bank of Latvia Governor Martins Kazaks told the Saeima Budget and Finance (Taxation) Committee on Tuesday.

Commenting on April's inflation data, Kazaks said that the 3.9 percent annual rise in Latvian consumer prices this past April was faster than expected, but that Latvia was not unique in that respect, as Estonia's inflation rate was 5 percent and Lithuania's above 4 percent in April.

The head of the central bank noted that although the inflation rate caused concerns, the Bank of Latvia expected inflation to slow down in the following months of the year.

"As far as food is concerned, there is much more to it than just global trends. It is necessary to look for the bottleneck that allows pushing the prices up," said Kazaks, adding that the central bank cannot resolve this problem and that policy makers should address the issue.

As reported, Latvian consumer prices climbed 3.9 percent year-on-year in April, according to the Central Statistical Bureau. Prices on food products and nonalcoholic beverages went up by an average of 7.3 percent.