EU sanctions against Russia have taken a heavy toll on Latvia’s export market. Dana Reizniece-Ozola, the country’s minister of economics, said that Latvia’s exports to Russia have dropped by 25 percent over the last several months. However, the country’s overall export volume still grew by 3 percent last year, as businesses looked for ways to diversify.
Reizniece-Ozola told TASs that Latvian companies were better prepared for Russian sanctions and “managed to refocus their activity on other perhaps exotic markets that previously they did not consider due to lack of motivation.”
Russia was hit by EU sanctions in 2014 in response to the Ukraine conflict. In response, Russia banned imports of meat, dairy, fruit and vegetable products. Reizniece-Ozola has previously said the sanctions and Russia’s response had a €70m impact on the Latvian economy.
