Due to the rapid rise of inflation and the consequences it brings, many residents in Latvia were forced to experience financial challenges. According to the annual Intrum Annual European Consumer Payment Report, more than one-tenth or 14% of Latvian residents expect having higher debts after Christmas than ever before.
Compared with other Baltic states, this index is slightly higher in Lithuania – 16%. Estonia shows a positive tendency. In this country there are only 9% of residents who are concerned about their financial situation worsening after the holiday.
In Europe a little over one-fifth or 21% of residents expect their debts to go up.
Although Christmas is a holiday generally associated with happy celebrations, the general mood among Latvian residents is noticeably depressed this year.
41% of residents in Latvia believe Christmas will no longer be as it was before the unpredictable, geopolitical and epidemiological situation caused by the pandemic.
Between Baltic States residents in Lithuania have the most positive outlook for the holiday. Only 31% of them say Christmas will no longer be as it was before (36% in Estonia and 40% in Europe in general).
The report mentions that in order to reduce the financial pressure caused by inflation for households, the majority of households have plans to buy cheaper goods and pay more attention to discounts (61%), go to cultural events and restaurants less often (57%) and looking for better deals on the internet (45%), followed by saving money on gifts (37%), and diverting less money towards savings (24%) and charity (20%).
The European Consumer Payment Report 2022 is based on a study simultaneously performed in 24 European countries in July and August 2022 by international research company Longitude, a Financial Times Group company. Data was compiled from responses of 24 011 consumers that are fully or partially responsible for finances and payments in their household.