Economic debates have begun in the Saeima, which may last almost the entire working day.
So, today the lion's share of the plenary session of the Saeima will be occupied by a discussion on the economic and financial situation in the country. On the agenda is a government report on the implementation of the structural fiscal plan. However, the report is just a starting point for a broad discussion about what is happening in the Latvian economy today and what to expect in the future. The situation is becoming extremely unpredictable due to geopolitical twists. This was acknowledged from the podium of the Saeima by the Minister of Finance Arvils Ašeradens: the report was based on forecasts from January-February, and already in March, due to the war in the Persian Gulf, everything in the world changed, and instead of the expected rapid economic growth, today we would be happy with any growth at all...
At the same time, the Minister of Finance tried to be optimistic: he spoke a lot about the historic decision to increase defense funding to 5% of GDP (albeit at the expense of European Union loans), about how entrepreneurs have successfully adapted to the changing geopolitical situation, and that the economy will continue to grow regardless...
However, Ašeradens quite frankly outlined the key problems that this government will still face, meaning the period before the elections and immediately after them.
"We will need to find capital for airBaltic," the Minister of Finance warned, adding that there are no financial reserves for this and fiscal discipline does not allow investing taxpayers' money in the airline business yet. So where will the government get the money to save the airline? The answer was not provided in Ašeradens' speech...
The minister also acknowledged that the implementation of Rail Baltica can only rely on EU funding - there is no money for this in the Latvian treasury.
The debates promise to drag on, as more than 30 politicians - ministers, deputies, parliamentary secretaries - have already signed up to participate in the discussions.
