The next government is late on inflation in Latvia

Latvia's next government will begin work at a time when growth in state revenues will slow, but spending increases will accelerate.

The change of government mandated by the Constitution should take place at the end of the year, when seasonal conditions impose a large increase in public spending. Not only has the government attempted to ease the timing of payments, but everything has remained the same in the long run. September was the first month when the general budget deficit reached 32.6 million "and the deficit will continue to increase in the coming months," according to the report of the Ministry of Finance (FM).

It is even a surprise to the government that it demands it and that it stays on top of the money that it has accumulated from the beginning of the year. year in the fall. The year 2016 was a surprise for anyone, registering an unexpected budget surplus of just over 16 million EUR, but ended in 2017 with -156 million euros. EUR, which is not a big difference compared to other years.

FM expects to end this year with -225 million euros, while the surplus collected in the autumn of 691 million euros by the Treasury amounted to 331 million euros (twice as much) than the nine month of last year.

Due already to the anticipated deficit, the government is trying to prevent any increase in expenses of doctors and other applicants, although the purely arithmetic count contains a lot of money. In reality, they are few in number or, in other words, the money has become inferior. In the FM report, the name was written in such a way that "the maintenance expenditure of the general budget amounted to 572.7 million euros, an increase of 9.2% over the previous year" , created by "grants and donations higher (of 215 million euros or 18%), goods and services." an increase in service charges of 113.3 million euros or 12.7% and an increase in remunerations of 110.5 million euros or 6.8%. The performance of the same functions during the year has thus increased from 7 to 18%. The real inflation rate, which the public authorities stubbornly refuse to honestly acknowledge with the Central Bureau of Statistics, lies somewhere between these frameworks, although public authorities must constantly report a general increase in costs to justify the change. Increase their expenses.