If one or two imported items in each shopper's basket were replaced with local products, the Latvian economy would receive more than half a billion euros annually, assures economist Karlis Purgailis.
Residents of Latvia spend about 2.9 billion euros on food each year, and this amount continues to grow every year. However, data for 2025 shows that goods from local Latvian producers accounted for only about 1.2 billion euros of this total — that is, less than half.
This means that a large portion of the products in the consumer basket is still imported from abroad, and daily expenses often bolster the economies of other countries rather than contribute to the development of local businesses.
Purgailis notes that if every resident of Latvia replaced one or two imported items out of every five in their basket with locally produced goods, the benefits would be significant.
Calculations show that such a move could bring an additional 330 to 570 million euros to the Latvian economy each year, create up to 13,000 new jobs, and increase revenues to the state budget by 78–136 million euros.
