Last Sunday I was reading the New York Times about the “Irish Economy’s Rise was Steep, and the Fall Was Fast.  See link attached.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/business/worldbusiness/04ireland.html?th&emc=th

It made me wonder what will happen to the 50,000 or so Latvians living in the miracle of the Irish Low Tax policy of the 90s.  I quickly saw one article which stated the following:

Latvians living in Ireland do feel the impact of the global economic crisis, however, the majority of them do not plan to return to Latvia, as LETA learned from Latvians living and working in Ireland.  The initial reports from the website “www.baltic-ireland.eu” Imants Miezis pointed out to LETA that there is a crisis in Ireland, however, it is not as bad as in Latvia. Miezis believes that only those Latvians who arrived in Ireland with a certain purpose, for example, to earn enough money to pay back a loan in Latvia, will probably return home after some time.
Miezis and Janis Kargins, head of the Latvian Society in Ireland, explained to LETA that the crisis in Ireland has hit the construction sector the worst.  Miezis said, however, that the situation in Ireland could be described as bad “only if we received such wages as in Latvia,” pointing out that the wages in Ireland are on average five times higher than in Latvia, but food and household maintenance expenses are almost the same.  According to Miezis, many Latvians who leave Ireland do not return home but head to Australia or Canada instead.
The number of Latvian nationals living in Ireland could be between 30,000 and 50,000. For example, the Department of Social and Family Affairs of Ireland reports that currently there are at least 37,000 Latvians living in Ireland. Nevertheless, it is difficult to estimate the exact number as some Latvians only arrive for working temporary jobs and then return to Latvia, whereas others bring a number of family members with them to Ireland.  According to the Citizenship and Migration Affairs Administration data, this year already 1,052 Latvian citizens have registered residence in Ireland, which is a record number, compared to 180 and 181 Latvians registering Ireland as the country of permanent residence in 2006 and 2007, respectively.
Most Latvians working in Ireland are employed in the services sector, sales or construction industry.  As reported, President Valdis Zatlers is currently on a working visit to Ireland.

I am curious how all this will sort itself out.  Frankly, I believe that despite all the good talk of staying, if times get really tough, sometimes heading home is the best solution. Should be interesting to watch.

There isn’t much to come home to—rapidly rising unemployment (even the Govt. predicts it will reach the double digits), slashed wages that will be slashed yet more, rising VAT that may be raised yet further (and in realms that most often affect the poor—firewood, water, public transport, medicine, baby food…), closing factories (including some that incorporated that vaunted foreign investment), a popped housing bubble that will bring a lot of negative equity but probably won’t lower housing costs for most, a Government that would be laughed out of Ruritania…

Vysu lobu,
/P

Gee Peteri ~ That’s a cheerful note! Its been now two years since I have been back to Latvia and my focus has been concerned on the hellish economy here in America.  Obviously, I hear from sources about the bleek situation out in Gaizins - much more attributed to global warming - that is, no snow - no customers.  But perhaps, even if the snows come, the customers might not show up because they don’t have the disposable Lats.  Have your fuel prices dropped with the barrel of oil or have the stayed high? As you know, the only positive thing here is that gas has dropped back down from almost $5 per gallon to less than $2 per gallon - giving some relief to people.  My son living in Riga tells me that ther tourism has dropped completely from the busy days of cheap flights on Ryan Air. 

Somebody?  Any good news?