Published: 02.09.2021

Latvijas Banka is hosting its annual economic conference on 20 September 2021 (from 12.30 p.m. CEST). This year, it is dedicated to the subject of a sustainable economy. The conference will comprise two panel discussions: "Monetary and fiscal policy – interplay or fight?" and "Moving towards sustainable development".

Latvijas Banka conference 2021 logo

The international conference "Sustainable Economy in Times of Change" will be organised mostly remotely, complying with the safety requirements introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic. Most speakers as well as the audience will participate in the conference by taking advantage of the modern video conference technologies.

The conference will be accessible live to anyone interested on the website macroeconomics.lv and news portals, and it will also be possible to ask questions to international and Latvian experts via the platform sli.do, code #LBconference.

The keynote speech to the conference participants and the audience will be delivered by Isabel Schnabel, Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank (ECB).

The speech will be followed by panel discussion I "Monetary and fiscal policy – interplay or fight?", focussing on the following topics:

  • Interaction between monetary and fiscal policies, the role of public investment and debt sustainability in an environment of low interest rates, negative interest rate and growth differentials;
  • Potential risks of rising debt levels in the post-pandemic era, globally and in the euro area; monetary policy options given such fiscal policies; the consequences of the historically low interest environment for the interaction of monetary and fiscal policies; the implications of the low interest rate environment for the possible changes in the EU fiscal architecture;
  • The ECB's new monetary policy strategy.

This panel discussion will be moderated by Reuters International News Agency journalist John O'Donnell, and the panellists will be Isabel Schnabel, Mārtiņš Kazāks, Governor of Latvijas Banka and Member of the Governing Council of the ECB, Valdis Dombrovskis, Executive Vice President of the European Commission, Claudio Borio, Head of the Monetary and Economic Department of the Bank for International Settlements, Jordi Gali, CREI Senior Researcher, UPF Professor and Barcelona GSE Research Professor.

Panel discussion II "Moving towards sustainable development" will be dedicated to the following topics:

  • Interest and mandate of central banks to deal with sustainability issues;
  • The European Green Deal of the European Commission, its priorities, scope, overall objective and instruments;
  • Current sustainability issues and challenges; internal possibilities and resources;
  • Significance of the financial sector in the process of moving towards the green transformation.

The discussion will be moderated by Edvards Kušners, Head of Sustainability at Latvijas Banka, and the panellists will be Zane Petre, Head of the European Commission Representation Office in Latvia, Krista Baumane, Member of the Latvian Parliament, Andris Vilks, Member of the Council of Latvijas Banka and Kristīne Černaja-Mežmale, Member of the Council of the Latvian Financial and Capital Market Commission.

Detailed information on the conference as well as its live coverage will be available on Latvijas Banka's website at www.macroeconomics.lv. The mass media are also invited to follow the discussions. Conference working languages will be English (keynote speech and panel discussion I) and Latvian (panel discussion II), simultaneous interpreting will be provided.

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