Benchmark Study 1

IPP 1st BENCHMARK REPORT
Improvement of business environment
The increase of business and investment activities under the current circumstances is of crucial importance.
Latvia takes the 24th place among 183 countries in the ranking of the World Bank’s Doing Business
2010 index, by moving up for three places in the overall evaluation compared to the previous year.
Key policy directions and measures for improvement of business environment:
o Reduction of administrative barriers (simplification of administrative procedures, reduction of
administrative costs and burden and introduction of e-services in such areas as business startups,
tax administration, foreign trade, property registration, insolvency process, improvement of
construction regulation for performers of economic activities, etc.; introducing the new Insolvency;
developing and implementing one-stop shop principle (including virtual) in communication
with public and local government institutions);
o Speeding up absorption of EU funds (improving EU funds procurement monitoring system,
as well as mechanism for challenging decisions on procurements conducted in projects financed
by the commissioning party);
o Tax policy promoting entrepreneurship and investment (enhancing motivation of local government
motivation in entrepreneurship promotion and investment attraction by increasing local
government financial autonomy and revising distribution of taxes between the central government
and municipalities);
o Access to financial resources (developing single and flexible administration and management
of financial risk capital funding and guarantee support instruments);
o Support to entrepreneurship, including business start-ups and microenterprises (microenterprise
support measures, including developed network of Business incubators in all regions
of Latvia, extended support for self-employment and business start-ups; training of employees
by fostering introduction of new management methods; support to agriculture);
o Introduction of digital single market and development of ICT (availability of broadband network;
introduction of next generation networks, ensured digital confidence; expanding and improving
skills of ICT practitioners and e-business skills, especially for competitiveness of SMEs;
comprehensive e-government);
o Strengthening capacity of local governments in attraction of enterprises and investments
(providing support to local governments for strengthening competitiveness of their development
centres and creation of functional links with surrounding territories, create favourable
environment for business/investments in municipalities, more flexible laws for property dealing;
reducing administrative barriers to entrepreneurship established by local governments; increasing
capacity of spatial development planning, putting into practice new system of spatial development
planning, which would allow reducing deadlines of territorial plan development, thus
speeding up coordination/implementation period of investment project ideas, as well as ensuring
efficient protection of legal interests of involved parties; preserving and developing rural liv-
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