BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - Latvia's economy contracted at the fastest pace in nearly a decade in the first quarter of 2020, thanks to the disruption caused by the coronavirus, or Covid-19, pandemic in social and economic activities in countries across the world.
Gross domestic product decreased a seasonally and calendar adjusted 1.5 percent year-on-year after a 1 percent expansion in the fourth quarter of 2019, flash estimates from the Central Statistical Bureau showed on Thursday.
The decline was the worst since the third quarter of 2010, when the economy shrank 1.6 percent year-on-year.
Compared to the previous quarter, the GDP fell 2.9 percent in the first three months of the year, which is most severe contraction since the third quarter of 2009, when the economy shrank 5 percent. In the fourth quarter, GDP grew a modest 0.1 percent.
On a non-adjusted basis, the GDP dropped 1.4 percent year-on-year after a 1 percent increase in the previous quarter. That was the worst contraction since the second quarter of 2010, when the economy shrank 5.6 percent.
In the first quarter, production grew 3 percent, while output in the services sector decreased 2.6 percent.
The statistical office is set to release detail data for the first quarter GDP on May 29.
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