State-backed loans testing Dombrovskis’ patience

RIGA - Taking into account the recent problems the state has had with the repayment of state-backed loans, Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis supports the Finance Ministry’s proposals to abandon granting state guarantees for private business, reports LETA. The prime minister admitted to members of the press on Oct. 1 that there have been quite a lot of problems in regard to the repayment of state-backed loans recently, thus the Finance Ministry’s proposals to abandon granting such guarantees to private businesses is a logical step.

“We have not had good experience in regard to state-backed loans,” Dombrovskis said, adding that the granting of state guarantees has led to frequent problems. Thus, the prime minister supports that idea of abandoning such guarantees.
The state recently repaid, in place of financially-troubled metallurgical company Liepajas metalurgs, a 51 million lats (72.8 million euros) loan the company had taken out from Italy’s UniCredit Bank. Liepajas metalurgs is on the verge of bankruptcy.