Crisis-hit Latvia's economy shrunk by 17.7 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2009 compared to the October to December period the previous year, the Baltic state's national statistics office said yesterday.

The estimate from the office flagged up the extent of the stark economic crisis in Latvia, which enjoyed double-digit growth as recently as 2007 but skidded off track the following year.

The year-on-year data was unadjusted. The statistics office is due later this week to publish seasonally-adjusted figures comparing the fourth quarter to the third, which will paint a clearer picture of the pace of Latvia's recession.

It is not set to release full-year figures for 2009 until March.

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