Conference "Economic Adjustment under Sovereign Debt Crisis: Can Experience of the Baltics Be Applied to Others?"

The economic crisis has affected the global economy at large. However, its effects and consequences differ from country to country – we can even see a confirmation of that in the relatively small region of the Baltic States. Has the health of the economy and the economic policy implemented by the respective country in the pre-crisis period played the decisive role or does it depend on the government capability and involvement in overcoming the crisis? The crisis management strategy in Latvia and other Baltic States has ensured rapid recovery of competitiveness and economic growth, retaining a leading position in the European Union this year as well. These issues were discussed at the conference jointly organised by the IMF and the Bank of Latvia in Riga this year, and the discussion continued at the international conference on 2 November marking the 90th anniversary of the national central bank of Latvia.

The first part of the conference addressed the issues raised already at the closure of the June conference on how to apply the lessons learnt by another country: to what extent this experience can be taken on board and to what extent each country has to find its own solution. It is obvious that solving the problems of the global economy requires involvement of many stakeholders. Nevertheless, the question of whether the contribution of policy makers and international institutions as well as the private sector in overcoming the economic crisis in individual countries and solving the common problems of the global economy has been timely and adequate is still open – we discussed it in the second part of the conference.

Brief video summary