The country’s economy is among the fastest growing in Europe, and the World Bank said that, although its tax system is generally viewed as competitive internationally, more can be done. This could include tackling tax evasion, increasing fairness in tax rates and ensuring the conditions for sustained high growth.

Latvian finance minister Jānis Reirs said the bank’s experts will help the Latvian authorities conduct a thorough evaluation of the current tax system to inform the ministry’s development of new tax policy guidelines. These will then be included in the government’s 2017 budget proposals.

The review will work to identify options to increase government revenues, including the reduction of tax evasion and the grey economy, and to improve income equality by reducing the taxation burden for low-income employees.