Polish-owned fuel trading company Orlen Latvija remained the largest single taxpayer in Latvia in 2023, according to the State Revenue Service (VID), LSM reports. VID awarded 20 companies in 5 regions in the large, medium, small, and micro-enterprise categories for their labour tax contributions in 2023. The biggest taxpayers in the segment of large enterprises…
Electricity prices in Estonia will increase significantly following the planned decoupling from the Russian electricity grid in February 2025, Postimees reports. Currently, the rate for production and consumption stands at just EUR 0.04 per MWh. Estonia’s transmission system operator, Elering, has proposed raising the rate to as much as EUR 5.31 per MWh, largely due…
A strategic investor has shown interest in Latvia’s national air carrier, airBaltic, Transport Minister Kaspars Briskens revealed, LETA reports. He suggested that the investor could acquire a minority stake in airBaltic before the company’s possible IPO. Briskens refused to disclose the name of the potential investor. No talks are currently under way with Estonia or…
Taiwan’s largest commercial bank, state-owned Bank of Taiwan, plans to open a representative office in Lithuania, BNS reports, citing business news website Verslo Zinios. The Financial Supervisory Commission of Taiwan has approved the bank’s application to open an office in Lithuania. The Bank of Taiwan said that the office would help expand business operations in…
The European Commission will allocate an additional EUR 1.2bn of EU funds for the construction of the Rail Baltica railway, the project’s coordinator, RB Rail, announced, LSM reports. Of the sum, around EUR 370mn will go to Estonia, EUR 346mn to Latvia, and EUR 458mn to Lithuania. Together with national co-financing, total available funding will…
The Baltic power transmission system operators (TSOs) have notified Russia and Belarus of their intention to decouple from the Russian-controlled IPS/UPS electricity system in February 2025, ERR reports. Estonia’s Elering, Latvia’s Augstsprieguma Tikls (AST), and Lithuania’s Litgrid informed the Russian and Belarusian TSOs that they would not extend the BRELL parallel energy system operation agreement….
The number of passengers using train transport in Latvia totalled 8,989,953 in the first half of 2024, which was 767,317 (9.3%) more than in the same period of 2023, according to the country’s state-owned passenger train operator, Pasazieru Vilciens (Vivi), LSM reported. Electric trains on suburban routes carried 8,024,544 passengers, which was 89% of the…
The Lithuanian parliament, the Seimas, has approved legislation tightening the supervision of virtual currency companies, BNS reports. Under the amendments, crypto asset companies will have to obtain licences from the Bank of Lithuania. The amendments implement the European Regulation on Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA). Market participants have until June 2025 to be licensed. The central…
A public petition in Latvia is collecting signatures for a ban on the Chinese social media network, TikTok, LSM reports. The author of the initiative, Arturs Babuskins, stated that the social media application was used to “glorify Russian crimes, incite hatred, and divide society.” Moreover, the petition cites data security concerns. Public petitions need at…
