Ilmars Rimsevics

Budget planning should be carried out carefully in the current situation. And even if it seems that everything is fine, we need to use cold reason to think whether the optimistic scenario will come true or not. So far the policy of the Bank of Latvia has been conservative, and, sometimes, that is very useful, believes the Governor of the Bank of Latvia Ilmars Rimsevics.

«For example, if we look at the end of last year, it allowed us to plan the situation with careful numbers, not losing not earned money in the process, while when this money is actually earned, letting us decide together how to spend this money. All this opposed to rushing 14-15 months ahead of the real situation,»- the bank’s manager said in an interview to Diena newspaper.

He notes that «there will be a completely different situation with 2013 budget», adding, that «the entire picture needs be made anew». «We are currently living in the most troublesome times I can remember,» says Rimsevics, adding, that previously Latvia and its economy were in luck because the situation in Europe turned out to be better than previously expected. «There were reasons for this – the European Central Bank «printed» an additional trillion EUR, liquidity appeared on the market. Greece failed to «vote itself» out of the Eurozone; member states of the European monetary union make decisions to cut expenses, which allows for the belief that possible financial aid amounts will not be large,»- says the bank manager.

In relation to the next year’s budget – «properly» predicting how national economy will develop, according to Rimsevics, will be a big challenge. «It is important to remember that export has a big say in say; with that, the question about what happens on Latvian export markets is an extremely important one. Another factor that should be remembered – Latvia’s feature – is our favourite optimism. Despite what is going on in the Eurozone, USA, Asia, etc., our residents have begun spending money on long term goods. Maybe it makes sense to hope that we are more modest…In any case, the hard lesson that we received should not be forgotten. Respectively, even next year’s budget should be planned carefully. Because we will not forget – the money that we haven’t put into projection, but can still appear, will not go anywhere simply because we have been careful,»-says Rimsevics.

Ref: 103.109.109.2814