Economic aid - recipient: $96.2 million (1995)
Currency: Latvian lat (LVL)
Currency code: LVL
Exchange rates: lati per US dollar - 0.6384 (January 2002), 0.628 (2001), 0.607 (2000), 0.585 (1999), 0.590 (1998), 0.581 (1997)
Fiscal year: calendar year
Communications Latvia
Telephones - main lines in use: 734,693 (2000)
Telephones - mobile cellular: 401,263 (2000)
Telephone system: general assessment: inadequate, but is being modernized to provide an international capability independent of the Moscow international switch; more facilities are being installed for individual use domestic: expansion underway in intercity trunk line connections, rural exchanges, and mobile systems; still many unsatisfied subscriber applications international: earth station at Riga, enabling direct connections for most calls (1998)
Radio broadcast stations: AM 8, FM 56, shortwave 1 (1998)