The study looks into how attractive each local government unit of Latvia is to new investment.
The study uses various different factors and indicators to evaluate each municipality's investment environment. Riga is on top of the list, followed by Liepaja, Rezekne, Daugavpils and Jelgava. Stopini Region is in sixth place, followed by Valmiera and Ventspils. Another two cities, Jurmala and Jekabpils, are ranked 16th and 17th respectively.
The other top 20 municipalities are Marupe, Kekava, Carnikava, Garkalne, Mersrags, Aizkraukle, Cesis, Adazi, and Ropazi regions.
Most of the local governments that are the least attractive to investment are located in Kurzeme province - six, while four are located in Latgale. Vainode, Zilupe, Dagda, Vilaka, Vecumnieki, Nereta, Cesvaine, Lubana, Aizpute, Kandava, Rujiena, Durbe, Tervete, Priekuli, Balvi, Jaunpils, Naukseni, and Ventspils regions are the least attractive to investment.
Most of these local governments should do more to improve infrastructure, availability of human resources, and management of municipal finances, says the study.
A total of 32 different indicators were used for evaluation of the investment climate, characterizing factors most important to drawing investment - infrastructure, human resources, local government's effectiveness, quality of life, as well as territorial planning, use of municipal land, economic development level.
