Inflation obstructs business flow

  • 2006-10-04
  • Staff and wire reports
RIGA - The recent World Economic Forum's survey of Latvian businesses for their Global Competitiveness Report shows that Latvian businesses see inflation as the biggest obstruction to their business operations.

Over 12 percent of businesses surveyed named high inflation as the biggest obstacle to growth. Other factors such as tax rates and corruption figured high on the list as well.
Foreign exchange regulations, the country's crime situation and labor law restrictions were mentioned as factors with the least influence on business in Latvia. However, the survey found that less than 2 percent of the respondents cited these factors as obstructive to business.

Work on the southern bridge over the Daugava River in Riga is in danger of coming to a halt as a result of construction prices rising faster than the planned budget. When compared with 2005, construction prices have risen by 16.6 percent, as compared with 6.8 percent in the economy as a whole.
According to the Global Competitiveness Index calculated by the World Economic Forum, Latvia ranks 36th this year, up by three places from last year.