RIGA, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Latvian Economics Ministry has revised up the Baltic country's GDP growth forecast for 2018 by 0.3 percentage points to 4.5 percent, but warned that boosting competitiveness would be critical for sustaining growth in the future.

In 2017 and 2018, the Latvian economy, driven by steadily growing exports, investment, as well as private and public consumption, showed much stronger performance than in previous years, according to a review on economic growth in 2018 released by the ministry on Wednesday.

With export volumes hitting an all-time high, growth has been recorded in virtually all the key sectors of the economy, the ministry said.

According to the ministry's forecast, the Latvian economy will have grown by at least 4.5 percent this year, but in 2019 the growth rate is projected to slow down to 3.2-3.5 percent amid increasing external volatility, including the region's geopolitical issues, uncertainties about the Brexit deal, slower growth in other European Union countries, etc.