Translated material
Wealth is measured in rolls
Not surprisingly, it was the head of the Center for Intersectoral Coordination, Martins Krievins. Namely, it was this office that wrote the famous National Development Plan of Latvia, according to which, in 7 years, Latvians will be riding like cheese in butter. Well, or swim like sprat in tomato sauce. Perhaps Martins believes that the very existence of such a plan is national wealth.
However, not everyone wants to rejoice that Latvia is getting richer. No sooner had Krieviņš left the radio studio where he shared his good news than the results of a study by the EU statistical office Eurostat appeared. It shows that in 2011, 40.1% of the Latvian population was at risk of poverty and social exclusion. It's only worse in Romania.
So you will decide among yourselves there, gentlemen, are we getting richer or, on the contrary, are we getting poorer?
Human Rights Commissioner Juris Jansons added fuel to the fire. He wrote a letter to Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muižnieks, President of the Council of the European Union Herman van Rompuy, Vice-President of the European Commission Vivien Reding and other structures. In the letter, he calls on the EU authorities to put pressure on Latvia to take care of the problem of poverty and the growing gap between rich and poor.
And finally, the CSO shared its methodology for how it calculates the cost of living (see page 2). According to him, a Latvian needs 9 rolls of toilet paper and three grams of raisins per week per year. However, if you eat as the CSB prescribes for us, then five rolls will be enough. And the rest can be exchanged for raisins or saved until Krieviņš’s plans finally come true.
PS In October, with a more negative assessment of the economic development of Latvia, residents also became more pessimistic in assessing the financial situation of their family: 40% assess it as critical, the latest study "Latvian DNB Barometer" showed.
In previous months, from June to September, 36-38% of residents considered their financial situation to be critical.