The European Investment Bank (EIB) and Lithuania have signed a EUR 300mn financing agreement to support investment in long-term competitiveness, job creation, and the green and digital transitions in the 2021-2027 period, Devdiscourse reports. Lithuania will use the money to finance its national contribution to EU-funded priority projects. The loan is the first tranche of…
The legal minimum wage in the Baltic States has risen the most in Lithuania over the past ten years, according to Eurostat data, LSM reports. Lithuania’s minimum wage stood at EUR 840 in July 2023, and has risen by an average of 11.2% per year compared to July 2013. In Estonia, the minimum wage has…
Estonia and Latvia have put their national interests ahead of regional projects in regard to the synchronisation of the Baltic power grids with the contintental European system, Lithuania’s former energy minister, Arvydas Sekmokas, stated. Speaking in an interview with LRT, Sekmokas noted that Estonia seemed to want to postpone the synchronisation project to 2025 and…
Latvia’s Economy Minister, Ilze Indriksone, said that the state should not intervene in the food market, LSM reports. Earlier, Agriculture Minister Didzis Smits insisted that market intervention was necessary due to the high food prices. He suggested establishing a special regulator to monitor food prices in shops. Indriksone agreed that Latvia’s large supermarket chains, Maxima…
Latvia’s electricity consumption totalled 491 GWh in June 2023, which was the lowest monthly figure since June 2005, according to data from transmission system operator Augstsprieguma Tikls (AST), LSM reports. Electricity consumption declined by 9% over a year and 5% over a month. AST attributed the drop in consumption to the increasing number of microgeneration…
Latvia’s actual unemployment rate stood at 5.6% in June 2023, which was down 1.0 percentage point from a year earlier, according to the Central Statistical Bureau’s labour force survey, LSM reports. Compared to May 2023, the actual unemployment rate remained unchanged. The unemployment rate among men dropped by 0.1 percentage point over a year to…
Estonia’s producer price index (PPI) of industrial output fell by 1.9% on year in June 2023, according to Statistics Estonia, ERR reports. Compared to May 2023, the PPI dropped by 0.4%. The biggest impact on the index came from a fall in the price of electricity production and in the manufacture of wood products and…
Coordinated action by the Baltic States was essential to synchronise their power grids with the continental European system, Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics stated, LETA reports. Rinkevics discussed the synchronisation project with Climate and Energy Minister Raimonds Cudars. Earlier, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda urged Rinkevics to speed up the synchronisation project, LETA reported. Speaking after a…
Latvia’s retail sector has had no competition, especially in grocery trade, for years, Agriculture Minister Didzis Smits stated, LETA reports. Speaking in an interview with LTV, Smits asserted that retailers could set markups of 300% plus VAT on local produce and still compete, which he said was “abnormal” and “unpatriotic.” He insisted that in such…