"Given the situation we are in now, spending 5% of GDP on defense, we will actually have to reckon with the fact that the entire social block — healthcare, education — will be under very serious objective pressure for a long time," stated in the TV24 program "The Price of Money" the chairman of the Latvian Road Builders Association, former Minister of Welfare (1994–1995) and Mayor of Riga (1997–2000) Andris Berziņš.
Berziņš admitted that the government may not have the tools to counter this pressure: the only tool is borrowing, but we know what that leads to, and a certain fiscal discipline must still be maintained.
For his part, former Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis reminded that it is good that the government, thank God, does not yet have to borrow money to pay pensions: "the social budget remains in surplus, albeit a small one."
He recalled that in 1998, when he was the Minister of Finance in the government of Vilis Kristopans, such a situation had already occurred, and the state borrowed funds then — but this should not be done.
"If you start paying pensions from loans — this is the road to hell," emphasized Godmanis.
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