Privatization At The Crossroad Of Latvia's Economic Reform

Latvia regained its independence from the former Soviet Union in August 1991. Since then, it has begun the slow and arduous path of replacing the centrally-planned, socialist system with an economic structure based on free-market principles. Latvia began this transition "in a difficult environment characterized by macroeconomic imbalances inherited from four decades of central planning and disruptions caused by a sharp contraction of trade with Russia and other states of the former Soviet Union."