RIGA, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- During the 12 months of 2018, Latvian producer prices climbed 4.5 percent year on year from a year earlier, the Baltic country's national statistics office revealed on Tuesday.

Over the past year, producer prices went up 5.5 percent for domestically sold goods and rose 3.6 percent for exported goods.

Producer prices of goods shipped to eurozone countries grew 3.7 percent and a 3.4 increase in producer prices was recorded for goods exported to countries outside the eurozone.

Price hikes in the timber industry had the strongest increasing impact on Latvian producer prices last year. Meanwhile, producer prices dropped in the chemical industry and manufacture of electric equipment.

Commenting on the produce price statistics, Peteris Strautins, an economist at Luminor Bank, said on public radio that last year Latvian producer prices grew at a significantly faster rate than consumer prices, with the difference between the producer price index and consumer price index reaching 5 percentage points at the end of 2018. In Strautins' view, this might be an indication of some inflation risks.

"This definitely suggests of some inflation risks, but it does not necessarily mean that they will materialize. A similar discrepancy occurred already in 2012-2013, but a leap of inflation did not follow," the economist said. Enditem

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