"I should look at this more carefully and consult with the finance minister and president of the central bank, but now, at first glance, I would say no," said Skele on the weekly television interview program "From the Position of Power" when asked if Rigas Komercbanka should be saved.
"The bank will be bailed out at the state's expense, it will open, and people will withdraw all their savings, leaving the bank without assets," the new prime minister said.
The Bank of Latvia suspended the license of Latvia's fifth-largest bank in March after it ran up 30.3 million lats ($50.5 million) in losses in 1998, mostly on investments in Russia.
A rescue program has been put together for the bank under which major creditors will convert loans and deposits into shares in the bank. The central bank will convert 15.5 million lats in loans to shares, while the government promised to inject 1 million lats into the bank.
Major private creditors have agreed to restructure their loans and deposits in Rigas Komercbanka, but the Bank of Latvia said in May that Rigas Komercbanka needs at least another 7 million lats in equity capital to guarantee its stability before opening its doors.
Rigas Komercbanka's administrator is trying to convince medium-size depositors to restructure part of their deposits in the bank.
PricewaterhouseCoopers expressed doubts in its audit of the bank's 1998 operations about the bank's ability to recover if reopened.
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