Latvia

Latvia’s economy contracted at its slowest pace in two years, during the second quarter, as exports and manufacturing grew, Bloomberg reports. The nation’s gross domestic product fell 3 percent following a 6 percent drop in the first quarter, according to the central statistics office in Riga.

“The good news is that the economy didn’t contract, it had quarterly growth, but only marginal,” said Martins Kazaks, chief economist at Swedbank AB’s Latvian unit in Riga. “The economy is still fairly fragile as domestic demand is still relatively weak. The key growth agent is still exports.”