RIGA – Latvia and the Nordic countries, Estonia and the Netherlands have good economic adaptation skills for Covid-19 crisis, partly thanks to digitalization, according to the EU Annual Regional and Local Barometer.
Accoridng to the barometer, Latvia’s gross domestic product (GDP) in the second quarter of this year declined by 9.6 percent due to the Covid-19 crisis, while in Spain it dropped 22.1 percent, and in France – 19 percent.
Latvia meets the average health care capacity indicator in the 27 EU member states, ensuring 9.7 beds in emergency wards per 100,000 residents. The leading position is taken by Germany with 29.2 beds, and the weakest result was shown by Portugal with 4.2 beds.
In the social resistance category, Latvia ranked 19th by the share of employees who started work remotely during the Covid-19 crisis (31.6 percent), which is much lower than average in Europe. The share of workplaces that potentially are under threat due to Covid-19 restrictions is rather high – 30-35 percent.
The European Committee for Regions will present the barometer results on October 12.
Source: LETA/TBT Staff, Balticvnews