Budget, Financial Services, Latvia, Legislation, Transport

According to Ameriks, next year's budget and its effect on the Riga City Council's budget "look grave", as Riga is set to lose about EUR 19 million. Because of this, the Riga City Council plans to pass its 2015 budget only on January 27, 2015 in order to have exact revenue and spending projections.

When asked if public transport fares will therefore increase, Ameriks said that this issue will be definitely analyzed.

An increase in ticket prices cannot be ruled out, neither can it be confirmed, added Ameriks.

Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma (Unity), on the other hand, made it clear that Riga should not expect any additional funds.

She indicated that several municipalities, including Riga, are propagating the belief that the part of personal income tax revenue that goes to local governments should increase from 80% to 81%. She believes that this would be beneficial only to the wealthy municipalities – Riga, the municipalities around it, and a few other large cities, therefore, instead of changing the proportion, the government proposes a more focused support via subsidies and a slightly different proportion of payments in the municipal cohesion fund.