OREANDA-NEWS. September 26, 2011. At a meeting with representatives of the international ratings agency Moody’s Latvian president Andris Berzins talked about the political situation in Latvia since the September 17 snap parliamentary election, focusing on economic development prospects and the priorities for the next government.
 
The President said that a new government must be established as quickly as possible and that it must get to work, particularly given that the new session of Parliament will begin on October 17.
 
“The new government will have to work as a unified team, and not as a group of individual political forces. Latvia very much needs a stable government which can get to work right now,” said Mr Berzins.
 
The President also said that the results of the election have led the political forces which won seats in Parliament to promise that they will satisfy Latvia’s international obligations in relation to the successful completion of the international lending programme, as well as to next year’s national budget, in which the budget deficit will be reduced to 2.5% with the aim of achieving a balanced budget over the next few years.
 
The Moody’s representatives confirmed that Latvia’s achievements in overcoming the difficult crisis was the result of strict determination on the part of the government – determination that is based on open and trustworthy co-operation with international partners, including Moody’s. The agency increased the country’s credit rating at a time when Parliament was being dissolved and Latvia’s international credit ratings could decline for objective reasons.

“This crisis taught us many good lessons. Exporters in Latvia have shown that they can not only recover from the crisis, but also experience growth. For that reason, it is important to stimulate and support the establishment of new companies. We must work very hard to ensure that growth in Latvia continues,” added the President.