Latvijas Banka plan to conduct the Household Finance and Consumption Survey for our country in cooperation with the Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia. The survey data are used to study the economic behaviour of households and analyse the impact of macroeconomic and policy decisions on households. For instance, the factors determining household borrowing, savings, risk appetite and commercial activities will be analysed.
Approximately 2 000 households will receive Latvijas Banka's letter inviting them to participate in the survey. Later, an interviewer of the Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia will personally contact the household regarding the possible time and place of the interview. The interviewers of the Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia plan to conduct face-to-face interviews from 15 September to 1 December. Later, the survey data will be processed and compiled for the transmission to the European Central Bank.
The survey is conducted in all euro area countries. In order to ensure the comparability of data between euro area countries, the survey is carried out in accordance with the methodology of the European Central Bank. The households included in the survey are selected via a random selection procedure. At the same time, a maximum number of the households having participated in the 2014 survey will be involved in this survey to the extent possible in order to assess changes in the financial structure and consumption of households over a longer period.
The survey questions can be divided into two groups: questions about the household in general and questions about each member of the household who is at least 16 years old at the time of the survey.
The household is asked general questions about its main residence, other real estate property owned, credit liabilities, commercial activities, valuable gifts, overall consumption and savings. Meanwhile, questions about each member of the household allow obtaining demographic data and information on the current employment, provision for pensions in the future and income of the household members.
Particular attention will be paid to ensuring confidentiality and protection of personal data. According to the requirements of the Republic of Latvia and European Union legislation, fair and lawful processing of personal data will be ensured, solely for the defined purpose and to the extent necessary. The addresses of the households and the surveyed persons will be anonymised after the interview.
The compiled data of the 2014 Latvian Household Finance and Consumption Survey are available on Latvijas Banka's website under the "Statistics" section (addresses: https://www.bank.lv/statistika/mfps/raditaji and https://www.bank.lv/statistika/mfps/apraksti). At the same time, the results of the euro area countries (including Latvia) are published on the European Central Bank's website (address: http://www.ecb.int/home/html/researcher_hfcn.en.html).
In case of questions and uncertainties people are invited to call +371 6 7022 300. For further information, the representatives of mass media are kindly requested to e-mail to: presesdienests@bank.lv).
