Kazāks says Bank of Latvia staff will get bonuses, but not all of them

Staff at the Bank of Latvia will receive bonuses at the end of the year, but not all of them, Mārtiņš Kazāks, the central bank’s governor, said in an interview with the news site nra.lv published on Friday, 13 November. “We have a certain part of the budget set aside for bonuses, but it depends very much on how employees perform and how they are rated. Those who have done good work will get a bonus,” he said.

Asked how large the bonuses would be, Kazāks said 40% of the monthly wage bill was currently earmarked for them. “It is not the case that everyone gets a bonus. Only some people get them, and of course it depends on what the employee has done,” he said.

Growth too slow

Kazāks said economic growth this year was fairly good, most likely between 2% and 3% and possibly closer to 3%. But the medium-term forecast of about 2% was far too slow, he said: the economy needs to grow twice as fast for living standards to rise more quickly.

He declined to say how much should be saved in the budget, saying that was for the prime minister to decide. It was wrong to talk only about cuts or only about growth, he said: the government should spend taxpayers’ money as wisely as possible and also speed up economic growth.

Audit reports “out of the drawer”

As a first step, Kazāks suggested taking “out of the drawer” past reports by the State Audit Office, which he said already set out many of the problems and how to fix them. The key was to pick a few priorities, deliver them and only then move on, because “doing everything by half” would give weak results. The Bank of Latvia, as a partner of the government, would help prepare decisions if the prime minister asked, he added.