Einars Repše During this period, he oversaw the introduction of the Latvian rublis, Latvia's temporary transition currency, and the Lats, independent Latvia's new currency. Under Repše, the Bank of Latvia pursued a tight monetary policy, implementing a de facto currency board for the Lats. As a result, the exchange rate of the lat has been stable since the early 1990s till now. The success of the Lats made Repše very popular in Latvia. In 2001, Repše resigned from the Bank of Latvia to return to politics. He founded the New Era Party, a Populist anti-corruption party. After the 2002 elections, Repše became
Baltic states housing bubble to housing bubble in the Baltic states. Another direct outcome from the "cheap" credit abroad guided the banks to engage in imprudent lending supported by its parent banks. As the interest rate has been free-falling in the Baltic states, the real interest rate on deposit has been dwindling. Throughout the housing bubble period in the Baltic states, the deposit to loans ratio continued to widened – far higher than the entire Euro Area. For that reason, banks in the Baltic states have to borrow abroad heavily denominated in Euros before passing the currency risk to potential customers. As such move