Prominent Latvian reformer Einars Repse visited KSE

On Sept. 16-17 the Kyiv School of Economics was honored to host the visit of ex-Prime Minister of Latvia Mr.Einars Repse with #UkraineReforms project of Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies.

Mr.Repse lectured at KSE for broad audience of representatives of civil society, academe and media. He reflected on his experience on the post of Prime Minister, Minister of Finance and Governor of Central Bank and shared his thoughts on the reform process in Ukraine.  Taxes and involvement of government in the life of the
citizens should be minimized, according to Mr.Repse.

“Taxes should be reasonably low and government involvement in everyday life should be reasonably low. I’m not advocating for total abolishing of any government because people need to be governed but the governments should be slim and only limited to those areas which are not capable of self-governance or of market-related mechanisms,” – Mr. Repse said.

Mr Repse also participated in expert discussion with Reanimation Package of Reforms about banking sector reform in Ukraine. Learning from other countries is very important, according to Mr.Repse. “Take decisions which are already ready. If it’s monetary policy – introduce currency boards (which already are established in  Latvia, Estonia, among other countries). Such decisions which are based on best practices are easy to defend,” – Mr. Repse emphasized during the discussion.

The visit of Mr.Repse is a part of #UkraineReforms project which is embodied in partnership with the Kyiv School of Economics, Reanimation Package of Reforms and Stronger Together.

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