100 Years of the Bank of Latvia

A tree, symbolising the importance of financial literacy and the knowledge that underpins it. On either side of the trunk, the year "20 – 22". The issuing state "LATVIJA" appears along the lower edge.

Latvijas Banka is one of the oldest central banks in the Baltic Sea region. It was founded in 1922, shortly after Latvia had gained state independence following the First World War — the bank was thus from the outset an instrument of the young nation-state to secure economic sovereignty from neighbouring powers. During the interwar years, it stabilised the Latvian currency, the lats, which became a symbol of national self-reliance. Following the Soviet annexation in 1940, the central bank was dissolved; it was only able to resume its work with the restoration of independence in 1991. Since then, it has accompanied Latvia's economic transformation, its EU accession in 2004, and finally the introduction of the euro on 1 January 2014, at which point Latvijas Banka became part of the Eurosystem and the European Central Bank.

Within the eurozone, Latvijas Banka represents the monetary integration of a small, open and export-oriented economy. Latvia has around two million inhabitants and is highly dependent on trade and foreign investment; stable monetary policy has an immediate societal impact there. The bank is responsible for currency stability, banking supervision and fostering confidence in the financial system — tasks it has fulfilled since its founding under sometimes dramatically changing political circumstances. To mark its centenary, Latvia issued a 2-euro commemorative coin in 2022 recalling the history and role of this institution.