2008 Latvian financial crisis

[1] In 2008, following years of booming economic success, the Latvian economy took one of the sharpest downturns in the world, picking up pace in the last quarter in which GDP contracted by 10.5%.

[2] In February 2009 the Latvian government asked the International Monetary Fund and the European Union for an emergency bailout loan of 7.5 billion Euros, while at the same time the government nationalized Parex Bank, the country's second largest bank.

[4] On February 20 the Latvian coalition government headed by Prime Minister of Latvia Ivars Godmanis collapsed.

Rating agency Standard & Poor's raised its outlook on Latvia's debt from negative to stable.

[10] Kenneth Orchard, senior analyst at Moody's investors service argued that: In June 2012 International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde lauded Latvia's accomplishments in bringing order to the country's economy, and emphasized Latvia must complete three more tasks - strive to join the eurozone, promote economic competitiveness, reduce social inequality.