OREANDA-NEWS. May 12, 2014. The Council of Latvijas Banka has approved the Annual Report of Latvijas Banka for 2013. Apart from the financial statements and auditors' report it contains an overview of the economic and monetary policy developments, as well as provides information on the operation of the national central bank and the accomplishments in the areas of its competence: foreign exchange policy, monetary policy instruments, economic analysis and research, cash circulation, payment and settlement systems, statistics, etc.

The year 2013 was special for Latvia and Latvijas Banka due to the preparations for the euro changeover on 1 January 2014. The Annual Report provides information on the tasks accomplished by Latvijas Banka ensuring successful changeover from the lats to the euro, inter alia implementing smooth exchange of cash, changes to the payment system infrastructure necessary for non-cash settlement, changes in the monetary analysis, statistics and other fields.

As reported before, the opinion of the auditing company SIA "Ernst & Young Baltic" and the State Audit Office on the financial statements of Latvijas Banka was positive: "the financial statements give a true and fair view of the financial position of the Bank as at 31 December 2013, and of its financial performance and its cash flows for the year then ended in accordance with the "Financial Accounting Policy of Latvijas Banka" approved by the Council of Latvijas Banka, and the Law on Latvijas Banka."

The Annual Report of Latvijas Banka for 2013 is available on the web site www.bank.lv (English-language version will be available next month). Financial statements of Latvijas Banka for 2013 are also published separately on the web site of Latvijas Banka.

The profit earned by Latvijas Banka in 2013 was 41.5 million lats (59.0 million euro). Pursuant to the Law on Latvijas Banka, 65% or 38.3 million euro of Latvijas Banka's profit for 2013 will be appropriated to the state budget; the rest of the profit will be transferred to the reserve capital of Latvijas Banka. Latvijas Banka's profit, appropriated to the state budget over the last five years, totals 201 million euro.