On March 13, The Bank of Latvia held an expert discussion “How to ensure a sustainable growth of Latvia’s national economy?” FICIL’s Board Member, Zlata Elksniņa-Zaščirinska, represented FICIL in the panel discussion, alongside other prominent experts:
- Liene Briede, Vice-rector for Innovation at Riga Technical University;
- Ingmārs Pūķis, Chief Marketing and Business Development Officer at LMT;
- Ilze Zvīdriņa, Labor Market Policy Department deputy director at the Ministry of Welfare.
The discussion was opened by Uldis Rutkaste, Head of Monetary Policy Department at the Bank of Latvia, with a presentation on the factors hindering Latvia’s economic development. The economist underlined that investments in Latvia’s human capital – upskilling and requalification, effective management of human resources, and a policy aimed at attracting skilled workforce – are the three main drivers of Latvia’s economy. The presentation highlighted that the public sector in Latvia is considerably bigger than in other European countries and Latvia should strive to achieve a more efficient and digital public sector. Lastly, Uldis Rutkaste mentioned uncertainty and workforce availability as some of the reasons why Latvia has one of the lowest foreign investment attraction rates, compared to other European countries.
Zlata Elksniņa-Zaščirinska underscored the need for a coherent human capital strategy with a clear vision of how to boost upskilling and foster an innovation ecosystem. She emphasised the importance of digitalization and efficiency in the public sector to ensure high productivity. Lastly, Zlata Elksniņa-Zaščirinska underlined that to minimise uncertainty among the foreign investors immediate action to reduce the shadow economy and a predictable tax policy are needed.
FICIL has previously published a position paper on human capital policy, advocating for a better legal framework to enhance workforce availability and prioritizing upskilling and requalification of Latvia’s human capital. You can read all of FICIL’s position papers here!
The full expert discussion (in Latvian) is available here.