The Minister of Economy informs the President of the plans for the promotion of economic growth

Today, March 28, the Minister of Economy, Viktors Valainis, during a meeting with the President Edgars Rinkēvičs, discussed the country’s economic growth opportunities, emphasizing the issues of investments, innovations, exports and regional development. The Minister informed that the Ministry of Economy is currently developing a national economic growth strategy, which is based on specific achievable results in a number of areas, including the so-called “green economy”. This strategy, in the form of an informative report, is planned to be reviewed at the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers on April 30, and discussed in the Saeima on May 16, when the parliamentary debate on the country’s economic development will be organized for the first time.

The Minister of Economy pointed out that the first signs of growth of the Latvian economy are already visible, but a faster growth is expected in the second half of this year. “I am sure that Latvia is on the path of growth, and it is in our hands how stable we will grow both as a country and as an attractive environment for investments. Investors already see Latvia as an attractive place for investments, which is a direct proof of the Finnish deep wood processing company Fibenol the signed cooperation memorandum on investments of 700 million euros in Latvia. In the medium term, our goal is to achieve a sustainable 5% growth of the gross domestic product (GDP) per year, which would allow us to reach the EU average level in the foreseeable future,” emphasized the Minister of Economy.

V. Valainis pointed out that the Ministry of Economy and the government have started to implement significant changes in several directions in order to realize this goal. The intensification of the available EU fund support for business has started, using the financial institution “Altum” as a channel for channeling financial resources to support export, innovation, new companies and large investment projects. For example, two months ago, a new Altum loan program for small business start-up or expansion was launched. In the first two months already, loans for a total of 13 million euros have been issued, with an average loan amount of 35,000 euros. “This shows that Latvian businessmen are ready to take risks, invest, expand, and we will do everything to help them to this end,” acknowledged the Minister of Economy.

He also informed the President of the State about the plan to create a new institution – a council of four ministers headed by the Prime Minister as a management mechanism to support large export and investment projects. On the recommendation of the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia, business organizations and local governments, it would consider large export and investment projects, the smooth progress of which would then be ensured by an action committee subordinate to this council.

During the meeting, the issue of the situation in the transit sector was also discussed, where the minister emphasized the need to work on the reorientation of the sector, for example, by developing local railway transport, creating ports as industrial, logistics and innovation centers, as well as promoting the development of freight transport with Central Asian countries and other regions.

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