0000000000334047
AUTHOR
Irina Skribane
Assessment of the economic development of Latvia and Ukraine
The global financial crisis and the ensuing global recession not only adversely affected global growth and poverty, but also presented constraints and challenges to public policy. Even though the world economy is slowly returning to growth, the recovery was difficult and lasted for almost 10 years. Preparing for the future requires an assessment of the consequences of the crisis and future challenges. Since 2010 economic growth in Latvia has been one of the fastest in the EU (from 2011-2018, GDP, on average, increased by 3.5% annually), however in 2019 economic growth has moderated. Growth opportunities are limited both by the uncertainty in the external environment (“trade wars” on the glo…
The Role of Productivity in Increasing Latvian Competitiveness
Productivity is the main key factor for Latvia to increased prosperity, ensuring efficient use of resources. Due to limited availability of resources and the increasing competition in the global markets, it is important for Latvia to support its economic growth through increased productivity.
Productivity factors and dynamics in Latvia
Productivity is crucial factor for the growth of Latvia's economy and prosperity. Although Latvia has achieved significant growth since joining the European Union, productivity growth has slowed in recent years. Today, the world is experiencing a strong shock due to Covid19 crisis, the impact of which on productivity has not yet been widely studied. The aim of this study is to analyse the dynamics of productivity in Latvia, structural changes in technological intensity, as well as the analysis of productivity-related factors. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on productivity is also analysed based on researchers' assessments and available information. The research is based on statistical …
Impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on the economic development of Ukraine and Latvia
The COVID-19 pandemic that has swept the world has created a number of diverse threats to the development of the countries’ economies, including Ukraine and Latvia. An adequate assessment of these threats is very difficult and, moreover, often has a probabilistic character due to their singularity and novelty. The COVID-19 crisis mainly affected the tertiary sector, in particular companies involved in tourism, international passenger transport, accommodation, catering, entertainment, and cultural events, where demand fell sharply, and jobs fell. They were also followed by a contraction in demand in the manufacturing and transport sectors, which were mainly oriented towards external demand a…
Productivity dynamics and the productivity trap: problems and solutions in Latvia
By analysing changes in productivity and labour costs in Latvia from 2013 till 2017, we can see that growth of labour costs exceeds the growth of productivity by more than 2 times in both, tradable sector and total economy. Slow growth in productivity compared with the labour and other production expenses lead to an increase in the price of final goods and services, which negatively corresponds with producers’ competitiveness in both internal and external market. Furthermore, this leads to a drop-in consumption of domestic production and inefficient production facility usage, resulting in declining economic growth rates. The rapid growth in labour costs is mainly associated with the tight s…
Productivity trends and income inequality in Latvia
Increasing labour productivity is a key driver for prosperity. Although Latvia's productivity growth rates are among the highest in the EU, productivity growth has declined in recent years. With the productivity dynamics slowing down, the pace of convergence is also slower. The benefits of the recent economic recovery in Latvia have not been evenly distributed among households and income inequality has not diminished significantly. The recent OECD and academic studies point to a correlation between falling productivity and increasing income inequality. The more unequal a society is, the more it affects productivity growth and the sustainability of growth. Improving productivity has the pote…
Investments in Latvia
The effective attraction of investments to the national economy is a key factor, which provides favourable conditions to perform structural changes in the national economy, regional development as well as promotes technical progress. Therefore, investments in the public and the private sectors conduce development of the national economy and provide conditions to increase the overall competitiveness of a country. The purpose of research is to evaluate investment processes in Latvia before and after the global financial crisis, revealing investment-related problems. Also, to calculate the level of the desired investment, which would ensure the Latvia’s average GDP growth of 5% per year, accor…