Latvia attracted 500 MEUR in 9 months in 2021

In the first nine months of 2021, the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia (LIAA) attracted 31 investment projects that will contribute an estimated 500 million EUR to the Latvian economy and help create 2224 new jobs. This marks a positive trend in attracting FDI and the impact we will be seen not only this year but in the future.

“This year, even faced with difficulties, Latvian entrepreneurs have showed excellent results in exports. Also last year, when the FDI in Europe fell, we did better than we had in the last seven years. This year looks even more promising, and the results are achieved partly because of the policy implemented by the government – by introducing the fast track ‘Green Channel’ for priority investment projects. The investments attracted in the first nine months of this year are double of what we had last year and reach 500 million EUR,” says Jānis Vitenbergs, Minister of Economics of the Republic of Latvia.

In 2021, companies like ‘Kärcher’ that manufactures cleaning equipment in Jelgava municipality, and ‘Forpet Baltic’ with its plans to use recycled PET packaging for the production of ecological packaging solutions have made a great addition to the Latvian business scene. On top of that, Latvia has been chosen by such companies as ‘Pulsar Optics’ that has already started manufacturing thermal cameras in Daugavpils, the fish processing company ‘Syfud’ in Liepāja and the food manufacturer ‘Orkla’ that intends to build a new production plant in Ādaži.

Since the introduction of the fast track ‘Green Channel’ in February 2021, in total 9 investment projects worth 98 million EUR have been attracted. It is expected that 629 new jobs will be created. The Ministry of Economics of Latvia is working to improve the initiative that allows facilitating administrative work.

“Latvia is attractive to investors for several reasons. We have a well-balanced tax policy, multilingual talents, effective support tools. At the same time, we must be more flexible when it comes to relocation and financial services. We also need to be able to react quickly to be chosen for large high-value projects – meaning that not only production plats but also product development units would be located in Latvia. And, of course, strengthening the competitiveness of LIAA shouldn’t be left aside as we aim to offer premium service to both investors and local companies,” says Kaspars Rožkalns, LIAA Director General.