Investment environment in Latvia has deteriorated - foreign investors

RIGA - Investment environment in Latvia has deteriorated, said Arnis Sauka, professor of the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga (SSE Riga), at the presentation FICIL Sentiment Index developed by the Foreign Investors Council in Latvia (FICIL).

The overall investment environment in Latvia in 2022 has bee evaluated at 2.3 points out of five compared to 2.9 points in 2021, 2.7 in 2020 and 2.6 in 2019.

Sauka said that only in 2016 the score had been lower than in 2022.

"Investors see a moderate chaos in the country, and it is not understandable which direction the ship is being steered," said Sauka.

Performance of policy makers has been assessed with 2.7 points, corporate administration principles in state companies with 2.9 points and in municipal companies with 2.6 points.

Performance of the public sector in proactive solving of challenges has received 2.4 points. Investors believe that problems should be solved faster, said Sauka.

Investors' cooperation with the public sector has scored 3.2 points, still communication needs some improvement, said Sauka.

FICIL Sentiment Index is published annually, for the seventh year already.