Economics, EU – Baltic States, Funds, GDP, Investments, Latvia
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Tuesday, 23.04.2024, 08:46
EU funding investments facilitated economic growth in Latvia by 2% of GDP in 2017
The Finance
Ministry reports that Latvia's GDP in 2017, compared to 2016, grew by 4.5%,
which was considerably more than the previous year, when Latvia saw 2.2%
growth.
The
ministry informs that this increase in economic growth was also facilitated by
EU funding investments in the country, which alone stimulated economic growth
by 2% of GDP in 2017.
As
reported, in Latvia work is under way on EU-funded projects worth EUR 2.9 bln
in total, which 66% of the 4.4 bln euros made available to Latvia in the
current programming period 2014-2020, the Finance Ministry said in a report on
the absorption of EU structural funds and the Cohesion Fund’s investments.
The
ministry’s representatives informed that 74 projects, which received 215 mln euros
in EU co-funding, have been completed already. These projects in have been
implemented in areas like increasing the energy efficiency of buildings, road
construction, development of business infrastructure and revitalization of
undeveloped territories.
The Finance
Ministry also informed that this year special attention would be paid to
supporting the entities implementing the EU-funded projects of the 2014-2020
programming period and improving the projects’ quality, as well as
strengthening financial discipline in order to reduce risks and make sure that
the investments are used in accordance with Latvia’s interests.
In July and
August of 2018, Latvia received 162.6 mln euros in final payments from the
European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Cohesion Fund for the
projects implemented in the previous programming period 2007-2013.