OREANDA-NEWS. February 14, 2011. When informing about the accomplishments during the first 100 days of the Government of V.Dombrovskis, the Prime Minister emphasized that even though the reforms are not popular, they should be continued, because by postponing the reforms the financial and economic viability of the state, as well as public trust in Government are subjected to serious risk. The Prime Minister pointed to the fact that the politicians should be able to work in favor of the development of Latvia not in favor of temporary political popularity rating.

As the most important work accomplished by the Government the Prime Minister mentioned timely adoption of the budget 2011 by taking the budget consolidation measures in the amount of LVL 288 million and arriving at the budget deficit of 5.5% that is lower than 6% set by the international loan program.

The most important tasks of the Government to be performed in the nearest future - to take additional consolidation measures and the agreement with international creditors.

The Prime Minister informed that currently the agreement has been reached on consolidation in the amount of LVL 27million by taking effective measures to combat the shadow economy, by reducing the wage fund by 5% or the number of the employed in ministries by 10%, by introducing a special permit for provision of crediting services for non-banking sector, by revising the excise tax for petrol and increasing the tax for gambling.

The most important future task of the Government mentioned by the Prime Minister is continuation of structural reforms that would reduce administrative burden for businessmen and public administration institutions, would improve the quality of public services, would implement structural reforms in financially capacious policy areas, for instance, development of a result-oriented educational system and would implement the reform of public finances ensuring sustainable tax system and principles of austerity. Likewise, the Prime Minister informed that the priority tasks of the Government are combating of the shadow economy and strict fiscal policy, reduction of the unemployment, sustainability of the social budget, improvement of governance of state-owned enterprises and performance results, performance of function audits, reform of the civil service and improvement of the energy policy.

Describing the national economy of Latvia, the Prime Minister pointed to the fact that the lowest point in the cycle of economic development was reached in 2009, but from the beginning of 2010, the improvement in macroeconomic indicators can be observed.

For already four consecutive quarters in 2010, a seasonally adjusted economic development has been observed compared to the previous period in the amount of 1.1%.

V.Dombrovskis emphasized that the main driving forces of the economy are export and industry. In 2010, the industrial production has increased by 13% and exports by 29%. Also positive ratings by the international rating agencies confirm the economic recovery of Latvia.

The Prime Minister mentioned that one of the most significant tasks of the Government has been to accelerate the acquisition of the European Union funds as evidenced by indicators of acquisition dynamics since 2008 when LVL 90 million were acquired, in 2009 – LVL 388 million, but in 2010 – LVL 453 million. The economic stabilization of Latvia was also promoted by the export market expansion, the implementation of the principles of fiscal discipline, strengthening of the energy security, support to micro-enterprises, decrease in gas prices by 15%, deferred payments of VAT for fishermen and work on acquisition of the Norwegian financial instruments.

At the press conference the Prime Minister informed about the accomplishments in the area of public administration, mentioning that the salaries of judges, prosecutors and employees of local governments have been included in the unified remuneration system, the court proceedings have been accelerated and the workload of courts has been reduced. Within the framework of the cooperation program between Latvia and Switzerland 59 local governments received 110 buses, 17 institutions of state archives were reorganized, as well as the Road Transport Inspectorate was reorganized by transferring its functions of to the State Police.

It is known, that the Saeima approved the second Government of V.Dombrovskis on November 3, 2010.