The Ministry of Finance sees the fiscal effect of measures in the national economy for the period up to 2027 in the fact that the country will receive plus € 600 million in new taxes.
“Human capital, innovation, business environment and export capacity, financial accessibility and infrastructure have been identified as the main directions of action for the industrial development policy of Latvia”, the ministry’s document says.
It states that the Cabinet of Ministers should create “an effective, transparent and consistent with the correct principles of financial management procedure for supervision over the implementation of the budget program of the European Recovery Fund”.
According to the Ministry of Finance, to control the state funds and money received by the country from European funds, a total of 152 new positions will need to be created, which will cost € 32.302 million. Of these, the lion’s share will go to the additional payment of workers of the Central Agency for Finance and Contracts – 90 new positions with a total “cost” of € 14.57 million.
“All in all, administrative expenses will draw about 1.77% of the total amount of health-improving financing in Latvia in 1.82 billion. Moreover, the state itself will be obliged to pay for them. For all ministries, it is planned to establish a salary standard for an official supervising the spending of euro money – 23 059 euros per year after taxes are paid”, writes the opposition parliamentary deputy of Latvia Nikolai Kabanov (“ Consent ”).
According to him, not every economic event will be deemed worthy to receive money from the “euro table”. It is expected that projects of such events will be coordinated within six months. Projects in the field of climate protection and digitalization are subject to priority selection. It is expected that the maximum number of projects will come into effect in 2023 – about 2300. In total, the development of the European funds will last until 2027.
“In general, the EU money tap will open on time – right before the parliamentary elections in 2022. The main “decisive”, as before, will be the Minister of Finance Janis Reirs, which will allow his party “New Unity” to claim the votes of the bureaucracy. It will become the first beneficiary of the “recovery” of the economy. Indeed, in the documents of the Ministry of Finance there is not the slightest specifics about the real sectors to which it is planned to give money”, Kabanov concludes ironically.