Latvia needs change whose main aim is to create prosperity for the people living in the country, and that can only be achieved by creating favourable conditions and by not imposing burdens or obstacles on all those who invest in producing export-capable products and providing export-capable services.
Such were the conclusions voiced at a discussion organised by AS BDO. It was noted that Latvia has failed to make successful use of the legacy of Soviet-era production and capital resources, and as a result opportunities to attract investors specifically for the production of export-capable products and the creation of services have been squandered. Consequently, society's need for funding to ensure such essential functions as national security, health, education, science and infrastructure is growing, yet those who generate such funding are already unable to cover these needs in full, and the only solution is a larger budget deficit. The situation is made even more worrying by the fact that a significant share of state expenditure (or its deficit) is covered by EU structural fund money that is still available for now, without which the situation would be very critical. Things will no longer be as they were
“That is how it is now, it will no longer be so tomorrow, and the way it was 20 or 30 years ago is not how it is today and will not be in 10 years' time either,” says Jānis Zelmenis, partner at AS BDO Latvia, pointing to the factor of endless change. He acknowledges that although the Baltic states share a common past stretching over 100 years, and the time when they regained independence from the USSR is likewise 1990, giving them a common starting point, the thickness of each country's wallet in recent years has produced fairly substantial differences.
Latvia needs change whose main aim is to create prosperity for the people living in the country, and that can only be achieved by creating favourable conditions and by not imposing burdens or obstacles on all those who invest in producing export-capable products and providing export-capable services.