Latvia Producer Prices May 2008

Latvian factory-gate prices, considered to be an early indicator of inflation in the economy, rose at an annual 11.9 percent in May, the second highest rate of growth in five months. Producer-price growth compared with 12.1 percent in April, according to data from the statistics office this morning. Prices rose 1.3 percent from April.




Compared with May 2007, producer-price growth was boosted by food prices and increases in the cost of electricity and natural gas, which added 9.1 percentage points to the overall figure, the statistics office said.

The worrying thing here is perhaps that the rate of increase inexport prices, after declining for several months was up again in May, rising to an annual 3.9% from 2.3% in April. Domestic prices were up a horrifying 17.4% in May.