Lithuania: SEB keeps GDP forecast unchanged
Lithuania’s GDP will grow by 3.2% in 2026 and 2.1% in 2027, according to SEB…
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Welcome to Via Baltica, your “information superhighway” for news from the three Baltic tigers of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania! Our founder and editor-in-chief is Kerkko Paananen, senior news analyst with more than two decades of professional expertise in covering and reporting on current affairs in the Baltic States. We aim to do one thing well:…
Lithuania: SEB keeps GDP forecast unchanged
Lithuania’s GDP will grow by 3.2% in 2026 and 2.1% in 2027, according to SEB Bank’s latest macroeconomic forecast, Lietuvos Rytas reports. The bank thus kept its GDP forecast unchanged from January 2026. The bank raised its projection for annual inflation in Lithuania to 5.7% in 2026 due to increased energy prices. In 2027, inflation…
Latvia: Exports down 1.7%, imports up 3.6% in Q1/2026
Latvia’s foreign trade turnover totalled EUR 10.85bn at current prices in the first quarter of 2026, which was up EUR 113.8mn (1.1%) from the corresponding period of 2025, according to provisional data from the Central Statistical Bureau (CSP), LSM reports. The total value of exports amounted to EUR 4.97bn (down 1.7%) and of imports to…
Estonia: Non-EU nationals banned from financing parties
The Estonian parliament, the Riigikogu, has passed amendments banning citizens of hostile third countries from making donations to Estonian political parties, ERR reports. Earlier, Estonia precluded non-EU nationals from voting in local elections. The Riigikogu expanded also the supervisory powers of the Political Party Funding Surveillance Committee (ERJK), allowing the body to request documents and…
Lithuania: Unemployment drops to 8.1% in April 2026
The number of unemployed people in Lithuania totalled 146,700 at the end of April 2026, which was 8,400 fewer than a month earlier, according to the Lithuanian Employment Service (UzT), ELTA reports. The country’s unemployment rate stood at 8.1%, which was down from 8.5% a month earlier. Unemployment declined in all municipalities for the second…
Latvia: Current coalition close to collapse
Latvia’s left-of-centre party, the Progressives, will not leave the country’s three-party coalition government for now, Andris Suvajevs, leader of the party’s parliamentary group, announced, LETA reports. However, he insisted that Prime Minister Evika Silina, head of the ruling New Unity party, was unable to lead the government. The Progressives will invite Silina for talks. Meanwhile,…
Estonia: More rocket launchers bought from South Korea
The Estonian Centre for Defence Investments (RKIK) has signed an agreement with the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) to buy three more Chunmoo multiple rocket launchers from South Korea’s Hanwha Aerospace, Yonhap reports. In December 2025, RKIK signed a EUR 290mn deal with Hanwha Aerospace for six launchers, rockets, and training support, The Korea Times…
Baltic: Estonian, Lithuanian leaders eclipse Latvian leaders in Western media
Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna and Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda were by far the most visible Baltic political leaders in Western media in 2025, according to a survey by Estonia’s Government Office, The Baltic Sentinel reports. The survey looked at mentions of Baltic presidents, prime ministers, foreign ministers, and defence ministers in US, British, German,…
Latvia: Defence Minister resigns at PM’s request
Latvian Defence Minister Andris Spruds has stepped down after Prime Minister Evika Silina demanded that he resign, LSM reports. Silina announced that she had lost trust in the minister due to his mishandling of recent incursions of Ukrainian drones and the broader situation in the defence sector, LETA reported. Silina said that her adviser, Colonel…
Lithuania: Vilnius plans to revamp public transport
The municipal government of the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, plans to expand the city’s public transport network by 30% by 2030, LRT reports. The city intends to add 7 new routes, increase frequency on 44 routes, and adjust another 46 routes. However, the current bus and trolleybus network is nearing its physical limit, and the city…