Program of residence permits brought 29 million euros to Latvian budget in 2016

RIGA, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- A program providing foreign nationals an opportunity to obtain Latvian temporary residence permits in return for investments in the Baltic country's economy brought 29 million euros (34.5 million U.S. dollars) to Latvia's budget last year, the Interior Ministry said in a report to the government on the program's implementation over the past seven years.

According to the ministry's report, the investment program had a positive effect on the Latvian economy during the years of economic crisis when it helped offset the cyclical fluctuations of foreign capital, but as the economy stabilized after the crisis and the rules of the program were made tougher, the importance of this instrument for attracting foreign capital decreased.

The Interior Ministry's report contains detailed information on category of residence permits that are issued for investments made in company capital, real estate, credit institutions or special interest-free government bonds.

The report analyzes the role of the residence permit program in attracting foreign investment to Latvia, the structure of investments by their country of origin and the amount of taxes paid by the companies associated with the recipients of the residence permits.

In 2016, the investments made by foreigners in exchange for temporary residence permits provided 29 million euros in direct budget revenue, while the companies involved with the residence permit program paid more than 176.8 million euros in taxes to the Latvian government budget.

Of all the investments made under the program over the seven-year period, 83 percent were made in real estate, 10.9 percent in credit institutions' subordinated liabilities and just 5.6 percent in companies' fixed capital. Since January 1, 2015, 0.5 percent of the investments have been made in interest-free government bonds, the report said. (1 euro = 1.19 U.S. dollars) Enditem