The Baltic state, which has endured years of tough austerity measures to rehabilitate its economy after a 2008 crisis, is expected to be deemed eligible for single currency membership by the European Commission on Wednesday.
For a member state to join the eurozone, it must achieve a public deficit of less than 3pc of GDP and public debt no higher than 60pc of GDP. The EU also demands that the country's central bank operates independently of government and that inflation is under control.
Latvia's determination to join the eurozone has seen it undergo a painful internal devaluation involving deep spending cuts and tax hikes, in order to keep its currency, the lat, pegged to the euro. This strict fiscal discipline has seen Latvia achieve public debt of 41pc, one of the lowest in the EU.
While it posted the fastest economic growth in the EU in the last three months of 2012, when GDP grew 5.1pc year-on-year, Latvia remains one of the poorest countries in the bloc.
Valdis Dombrovskis, the country's premier, has made eurozone membership a central pillar of his four years in power. But his enthusiasm to join the eurozone is not wholly reflected among the Latvian people, who have repeatedly called for a referendum on the matter.
