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Government approves Latvia's 2017 budget

Xinhua, October 14, 2016 Adjust font size:

Latvian ministers at an extraordinary Cabinet sitting on Thursday approved the Baltic country's draft budget for next year, with both revenues and expenditures now set to surpass those of pre-crisis years.

Finance Minister Dana Reizniece-Ozola told the ministers at the meeting that the Latvian economy will increase by an estimated 2.5 percent this year, but that economic growth is expected to accelerate next year to 3.5 percent as more EU funding flows into Latvia, according to local media.

The minister noted that while working on the 2017 budget the government kept the promise to refrain from fresh tax hikes and that revenue growth would be ensured by using internal reserves and combating illegal businesses.

Defense, security, healthcare and education, which have been defined as budget priorities for 2017, will remain priorities also the future, the minister said.

Speaking to the press after the Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis said that extra budget allocations have to be provided for meaningful reforms and not squandered on various less significant political initiatives, which often have very little to do with serious reforms.

According to the blueprint, which the government is due to submit to lawmakers this Friday, revenues in Latvia's 2017 budget are supposed to reach 8.066 billion euros (about 8.87 billion U.S. dollars), which would be by 664 million euros more than this year, and expenditures are planned at 8.367 billion, or 681 million euros higher than this year.

Lita Juberte-Krumina, a representative of the government office, informed that over 30 million euros have been provided to the wage reform in the education system, additional 66 million euros have been earmarked for health care with emphasis on the accessibility of medical services, and 26 million euros have been allocated for the completion of a wage reform in the law enforcement system.

Latvia has also committed to raising its defense spending in line with its international obligations, the government representative said. (1 euro = 1.10 U.S. dollars) Endit