Commission approves second slice of Latvian loan

The European Commission announced on Thursday (2 July) its intention to release the second tranche of an EU loan agreed with Latvia last year, while at the same time calling on the small Baltic state to put its public finances in order by 2012.

The disbursement of the €1.2 billion sum will come later this month once the commission has had time to raise the funding on international markets, something it can do at a much lower rate than Latvia due to its higher credit standing.

The...