Fighting fires without a plan
Posted in economy on May 12th, 2008
RIGA – Latvian inflation hit 17.5 per cent in April, up from March, the office of statistics announced today. On Friday the office surprised economists by announcing that preliminary data shows Latvian economy expanded by 3.6 per cent in the first quarter this year.
That means that the economy is getting worse.
Minutes after the latest inflation figures were released, President Valdis Zatlers told Latvijas Radio that the government should stimulate the slowing down economy. The government doesn’t appear to have a systematic approach to solving the economic woes. It doesn’t want to focus on developing healthy industries and improve the nation’s competitiveness. Or maybe it doesn’t know how to do it. But over all, judging from comments from the government officials, Latvia lacks a plan for economic development.
“The problem is that we spend all the time fighting fires, but we lack a plan of action for three, or five years ahead,” Ingrīda Blūma, the former president of Hansabanka told the Diena newspaper this morning.
You cannot rely on – in words of Juris Kaža – “credit crack” for your economic growth. Now comes the economic lomka, a Russian word describing a hellish experience of withdrawal from drug use. And we’ll be better off on the other side of the crisis.
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