(VIENNA) - Latvia will not be ready to adopt the euro before 2011 or 2012 given the country's high level of inflation, Finance Minister Oskars Spurdzins said in an interview published here Monday.

"The only (euro membership) criterium we don't fulfill is inflation. But bringing down inflation can't be achieved that quickly. We won't make it before 2011/2012," Spurdzins told the daily Der Standard.

Latvia had originally planned to adopt the single European currency next year, but was forced to postpone those plans in view of accelerating inflation.

In September, the cost of living in Latvia increased by 11.4 percent on a 12-month basis, the fastest rate of inflation in more than 10 years.

In an attempt to rein in price pressures, the government recently launched a package of measures to dampen private consumption, including tighter loan policies.

Such measures would take time to bear fruit, Spurdzins said.

"The world markets, rising energy and consumer goods prices are among the factors which mean we'll need some time yet to bring inflation down to an acceptable rate," the minister said.

Latvia's economy has been growing rapidly since joining the European Union in 2004.

In 2006, it grew by 11.9 percent, the fastest rate since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 and one of the strongest growth rates in the EU.

Spurdzins nevertheless rejected suggestions that the Latvian economy was in danger of overheating.

"Private consumption is high, but still within the European average," he said. "And the economy is not any more out of balance than in other new EU states," he insisted.

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