In light of rising food prices in Latvia, the government needs to pay significantly more attention to strengthening market competition, said the President of the Bank of Latvia, Mārtiņš Kazāks, in an interview with Latvian Television’s “Rīta Panorāma” on Thursday.
“The rise in food prices is indeed a cause for concern,” said Kazāks, emphasizing that the government needs to engage more actively and pay greater attention to fostering competition.
He noted that food price increases are partly driven by global trends, but to some extent, domestic factors in Latvia are also contributing.
“This raises questions about the role of the Competition Council and potential issues in supply chains,” Kazāks said.
At the same time, the Bank of Latvia president pointed out that if price growth begins to slow down in the coming months, it could be seen as a normal development.
“The most dangerous period of inflation is long behind us, but 3% to 3.5% is still slightly too high,” Kazāks acknowledged.
As previously reported by LETA, consumer prices in Latvia increased by 0.8% in February 2025 compared to January. Over the year – February 2025 compared to February 2024 – inflation rose by 3.7%, up from 3% in the previous month.
In February 2025, compared to January, the main contributors to the change in the price level were food and non-alcoholic beverages (+0.3 percentage points), housing-related goods and services (+0.2 pp), transport-related goods and services (+0.2 pp), alcoholic beverages and tobacco (+0.1 pp), recreation and culture (+0.1 pp), and clothing and footwear (-0.1 pp).
Month-on-month, food and non-alcoholic beverage prices rose by 0.9%, while year-on-year they increased by 5.7%.