Covid-19, Crisis, Good for Business, Latvia

Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins (New Unity) told journalists after the weekly coalition cooperation meeting that there is "one good news" - the spread of Covid-19 is practically under control.

"We see that the rate of infections is not rising steeply each day, there is even a slight drop. This means that the collectively adopted and implemented measures are working. Unfortunately, this does not mean that everything has been overcome already. We are in the storm of epidemic and will have to keep working for some more time to overcome the epidemic together," the prime minister said.

Karins said that a political agreement has been reached at the coalition meeting on an extension of the state of emergency.

"Although the situation is currently under control, the crisis and the pandemic are not yet over, therefore, the state of emergency has to be extended by another four weeks," Karins said.

This means that the state of emergency might be extended by mid-May.

Asked how much the extension of the state of emergency by a month could cost to the government budget, Karins said that this question has to be asked to the Finance Ministry. The prime minister is confident, however, that Latvia's resources are sufficient to meet current needs. 

The prime minister said that Latvia has successfully placed government bonds, thus raising additional finance, and secured a number of other guarantees. 

"We have several billion euros we can use as a budget deficit to finance our needs. We have started modeling how the restrictions will be lifted. I expect it to happen gradually. We will have to stimulate the economy, following public health safety rules," Karins said. 

As reported, in an effort to contain the spread of Covid-19, a state of emergency has been declared in Latvia from March 13 to April 14, imposing a number of restrictions in order to curb the infections.