Entrepreneurs give Latvian government’s work a low average score

Entrepreneurs are the most critical of the work done by Minister of Finance Jānis Reirs, whereas Minister of Foreign Affairs Edgars Rinkēvičs is given the highest score, according to results of a survey done by Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LTRK) together with SKDS.
To determine the opinion of entrepreneurs about the current situation in Latvia, LTRK and SKDS organised a survey in February and March 2022. In it managers of different businesses were asked to score the quality of work done by Latvian government and individual ministers on a scale of one to ten. 750 businessmen from all over Latvia took part in the survey. They gave Latvian government an average score of 4.29 points, LTRK reports.
Interviewed businessmen gave Minister of Finance Jānis Reirs the lowest score – 3.66 out of 10. Minister of Justice Jānis Bordāns and Minister of Health Daniels Pavļuts are also scored rather low.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Edgars Rinkēvičs received the highest score, comparatively speaking – 5.98. Among the more highly scored ministers are also Minister of Defence Artis Pabriks and Minister of Culture Nauris Puntulis.
LTRK board chairman Jānis Endziņš, commenting on survey results, says: «In reality, we should thank Minister of Finance Jānis Reirs for this survey. Last year, commenting on the survey among LTRK members about the quality of work done by the government, he told LTV that the survey is not indicative, because only several hundred out of 6 000 LTRK members participated in it. Considering what he said, we decided to order a serious survey of public opinion with SKDS. We should conclude that results are somewhat similar to the last survey, but there are some minor corrections. For example, for the minister of finance the change in SKDS survey is for one position – Jānis Reirs is the least valued Latvian minister.»
Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LTRK) is a politically neutral association of entrepreneurs that unites micro, small, medium and large businesses in all of Latvia’s regions. LTRK is the largest business association in Latvia members-wise – it unites nearly 6 000 members (3 000 individual companies and 3 000 members from business associations). The collective turnover of individual LTRK members exceeded EUR 17.8 billion in 2020.