Governor Kazāks told President Levits that the economy is beginning to recover and is returning to growth after lifting of the Coronavirus restrictions. ‘If we prepare, new sanctions imposed due to resurgence of the virus will not take a heavy toll on the economy as before,’ said the Governor of the central bank.
Mārtiņš Kazāks also added that Latvia emerged from the crisis less scathed than other European countries and crisis has had a rather little effect on budget revenues: ‘Covid-19 crisis shows two things: we have a diversified economy and our people have been financially prudent. That is one of the lessons for the future. We need to continue to diversify our economy, boost competitiveness on other markets, support business productivity, skills and knowledge, finding of new market opportunities, digital transformation.’
President Levits also asked about the Covid-19 crisis and its impact on various strategic sectors of national economy, enquiring about the size of shadow economy, state support to businesses and workforce, tax rebates, employment rate and other economic indicators.
President and head of the central bank also discussed multi-annual financial framework of the European Union, particularly recovery fund investments and smart investing into strategic sectors of the economy vital for Latvia’s future development to make sure our government debt is decreasing due to growth.
Meeting also focused on opportunities resulting from digital transformation and green economy. Latvia needs to start integrating these opportunities into its national long-term development plans and initiatives aimed at boosting national competitiveness at the European and global level. Egils Levits and Mārtiņš Kazāks also discussed technologies and agreed that some of the most urgent priorities include personal privacy and rights, data security and ethical as well as legal aspects of data usage.
