Council Monitoring Report No 3

Council Monitoring Report 2

Fiscal Discipline Surveillance Interim Report Summary

Crisis Monitoring Report No1

When spring is in nature, the Latvian economy has entered an “economic winter”, in an interview with the LV portal, the chairman of the Fiscal Discipline Council, Professor Dr. habil. oec. INNA STEINBUKA. Although the duration of the emergency is unknown and difficult to predict at present, she is already proposing a strategy for overcoming the crisis, which should include support for companies that will be the drivers of future development. It is important not only to 'hibernate' the situation, but also to overcome the crisis with maintained growth potential.

Read all (in Latvian).

Fiscal discipline council (Council) welcomes the actions taken by the Latvian government aimed at overcoming crisis caused by Covid-19. However, the support measures must be balanced with budget resources and state’s ability to borrow – and they must not cause fiscal instability in medium and long term, in accordance with Council’s recommendations submitted to the Crisis management board. 

On March 12, the first meeting of the newly elected Fiscal Discipline Council was held to assess the potential impact of the Covid-19 coronavirus on Latvia's economy and state budget.

The Saeima approved two new members of the Fiscal Discipline Council (FDP) on Thursday. Martins Abolins, an economist at Citadele Bank, and Andrejs Jakobsons, a lecturer at Riga Business School of RTU, will start their work in the Council.

On Friday, February 21, international credit agency "S&P Global Ratings" upgraded Latvia's rating to historicaly high level  "A+", while maintaining a stable outlook.

The Council considers that the MoF macroeconomic projections for the period 2020-2023 are realistic and acceptable, but points to a number of risks, in particular in 2021/22.

On Tuesday, December 17, the Fiscal Discipline Council elected Mrs Inna Šteinbuka to serve as its chair for the next three years.

The Fiscal Discipline Council (FDC) is opposed to the proposal to use the budget deficit as a source of funding to raise salaries for medical staff.

The Council had its meeting on November 14 to discuss research priorities and strategy for 2020, as well administrative issues. 

The Fiscal Discipline Council has prepared a non-compliance report finding violation of the Fiscal Discipline Act by the government's decision to reallocate 8.1 million euros in unspent funds in the 2019 budget.

The Council presented their view to Saeima on 2020 budget on 22 October, 2019. Presentation here.

Fiscal Discipline Council: The best use of seized proceeds is to reduce the government deficit

Fiscal Discipline Board: Government has to consider bigger safety cushion for stability in future.

On September 26, 2019, a meeting of the Fiscal Discipline Council was held to discuss issues of Latvian economy, which will be eleborated in Council's Annual Surveilance Report. It will be launched in the first half of October. Issues relating to the administrative functioning of the Secretariat were also discussed at the meeting.

The Fiscal Discipline Council (Council) generally commends the work of the Ministry of Finance in preparing the 2020 budget framework, which began in government on Tuesday. However, the impact of the tax reform remains substantial and the compensatory measures are inadequate. Therefore, the Council considers that, in line with the requirements of the Fiscal Discipline Law (FDL), next year's budget expenditure should be reduced by EUR 94 million in comparison to the draft budget presented. This opinion was presented to the Cabinet of Ministers on Tuesday by the Chairman of the Council, Janis Platais.

FDC: government's decision to establish fiscal security reserve in amount of 0.1% of GDP in 2020 is sufficient.