Today, during his visit to Riga, Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis announced the disbursement of the first payment to Latvia under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF). The announcement was made alongside Latvia’s Finance Minister, Jānis Reirs. Executive Vice-President Dombrovskis said: “Great news for Latvia as it receives this first RRF payment to press ahead with its agenda of reforms and investments. The first milestones that Latvia has met in its recovery plan will help the country to develop a minimum income support system, improve the competition environment and increase the supply of affordable housing. As these reforms and investments gain traction, they will help to make Latvia’s economy more inclusive and resilient for the years to come.” Latvia receives €201 million in grants (net of pre-financing). Payments under the RRF are performance-based and contingent on the implementation of the investments and reforms described in Latvia’s recovery and resilience plan. On 17 June 2022, Latvia submitted to the Commission its first request for a payment of €201 million under the RRF. It covered 9 milestones concerning reforms and investments in the areas of the minimum income support system, broadband infrastructure, educational institutions’ infrastructure and remote learning. Other areas covered are public procurement, the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing, as well as the construction of low-rent dwellings. On 29 July 2022, the Commission endorsed a positive preliminary assessment of Latvia’s request for payment. The favourable opinion of the Economic and Financial Committee on the payment request paved the way for the Commission to adopt a final decision on the disbursement of the funds. The overall recovery and resilience plan of Latvia will be financed by €1.8 billion in the form of grants. The amounts of payments made to Member States are published on the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard, which shows the progress made in the implementation of the RRF as a whole and of the individual recovery and resilience plans. More information on the RRF payment process can be found in this Q&A document. More information on the Recovery and Resilience Plan of Latvia can be found here. (For more information: Veerle Nuyts – Tel.: +32 229 96302; Tommaso Alberini – Tel.: +32 229 57010)
