Secretary-General of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Angel Gurria, arrived here on Friday to present the OECD’s latest economic survey of its new member Latvia.
The OECD chief’s meeting with Latvian Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis focused on the new report, which is the first since the Baltic country’s accession to the organization just over a year ago and follows an earlier, pre-accession survey drawn up in 2015.
Crediting the Latvian economy’s robust growth to structural reforms implemented in previous years, the OECD has raised Latvia’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast for this year to 4.3 percent from 3.0 percent, up from the organization’s projection in June.
Steady wage growth has been supporting private spending, and Latvia’s convergence with the OECD’s higher-income countries may have resumed after a break caused by the economic crisis in 2008 and 2009, the OECD said in the report.
At the presentation of the survey, Gurria called Latvia the “top reformer” among OECD member states, but he also mentioned a number of problems that have been holding back Latvia’s growth and weakening its competitiveness, notably low productivity and social inequality.
Kucinskis said during the meeting with Gurria that most of the recommendations provided by the OECD fully corresponded to the main objectives of the government’s agenda and include raising productivity, reforming the education and health care systems, as well as closing the income gap.
Kucinskis noted that Latvia had already made substantial progress in most of the problematic areas mentioned in the OECD’s 2015 recommendations, such as tax reforms, management of state-owned enterprises, consolidation of research infrastructure and improvements to the business environment.
Both Kucinskis and Gurria agreed that although much had been accomplished, the reforms had to be continued, using fiscal measures to support structural reforms, ensure better economic opportunities to low-income groups, as well as improve the access to health care, housing and jobs. The OECD chief made a special point of stressing the significance of education reforms in Latvia.
Latvia became the 35th member of the OECD on July 1, 2016.