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Latvia receives 1.39 bln euros in foreign investment in exchange for residence permits since 2010

Xinhua, October 26, 2016 Adjust font size:

Investments made by foreign nationals in the Latvian economy in exchange for residence permits have added up to 1.39 billion euros(1.52 billion U.S. dollars) in the past six years, according to the Interior Ministry's report to the government.

Between July 1, 2010, when the investment program was launched, and June 30, 2016, the Latvian migration authority granted 16,737 temporary residence permits in return for foreigners' investments. Residence permits were denied in 323 cases and 2,695 temporary residence permits were revoked, the ministry said in the report.

Real estate transactions account for 1.15 billion euros of the financing that has flown into Latvia under the investment program, and investments in Latvia's credit institutions have reached 152.8 million euros in the six years.

Meanwhile, foreigners' investments made in Latvian companies' capital make up 75.4 million euros during the period and another 5.5 million euros have been invested in government securities.

Foreign investors' activity has been plummeting since September 2014, after the rules of the investment program were tightened. While in 2014 residence permits issued against investments made up 53 percent of all residence permits issued in Latvia, the share was down to 26 percent in 2015 and fell to 10 percent in the first half of this year.

Real estate market reviews for 2015 and the first half of this year suggest, however, that the amendments to the immigration law effective in Latvia since September 2014 have made new residential projects more accessible to local home buyers. According to real estate companies' reports, the property market is now largely dominated by local demand, which is seen as a good basis for the market's sustainable growth.

However, to stop foreign direct investments from dropping, solutions have to be sought to make the investment program more attractive to potential investors from foreign countries, the ministry said in the report, stressing the importance of information materials and campaigns.

Under the latest amendments to the Latvian immigration law that came into effect on July 1, 2016, foreigners can apply for five-year Latvian residence permits in return for buying real estate for at least 250,000 euros. Endit