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There is much that could be said about the government's plan for budget consolidation. I could point that the share of tax increases in this consolidation package (about half) contradicts what government's pledge in its declaration (i.e. one third). I could point to how planned net increase in the employment taxes contradicts this government's numerous earlier statements of how doing so is unacceptable. Read
Anyone dares to argue 'budget consolidation' is not one of the main challenges for the next two years? According to the Memorandum of Understanding with the lender, the budget needs to be consolidated by 800-900 million LVL over the next two years, probably 400 million LVL for 2011. Yet 'consolidation' is a term dreaded by the politicians. So far, no political party has unveiled a clear plan of how to achieve more reasonable levels of budget deficit. Read
I have to confess, I was not very happy when the results of UK elections were announced a few weeks ago. Read
I thought I'd take a short break from blogging to focus on my core work. Read
Hardly a day goes by without another politician, an expert, or a civil servant thoughtfully talking about how they would like to stimulate the economy. Read
Today I woke up with a throat-ache. While it certainly is not a pleasant feeling, I thought it is, to certain extent, a blessing. Finally, I am able to stay at home and contemplate about my week. Read
My colleagues who went to Paul Krugman's (2008 Nobel Laureate in economics) lecture at Stockholm School of Economics (the one in Stockholm) last Friday tell me there was a passage dedicated to Latvia. Read
According to "Nothing Personal" ("Nekā Personīga"), a TV3 show, Valerijs Kargins and Viktors Krasovickis, the ex-masters of recently nationalized Parex bank, each had a loan of 28 million LVL from Parex bank, which they then deposited in their own bank at an annual interest rate of 36%. This is a rather novel way to pay yourself a salary. Read
I didn't think it would be Parex. Of course, these are hard times for the banks, but… perhaps I was under the lingering impression of how deftly Parex had eluded the Russian crisis of 1998. Somehow I must have expected that Parex would emerge unscathed after this crisis. Oh well... Read