Latvia’s three-party coalition government remains stable, Prime Minister Evika Silina assured, LSM reports. Speaking in an interview with LTV, Silina said that the main issues facing the government included next year’s budget, tax reforms, funding for the Rail Baltica railway project, and the planned IPO of national air carrier airBaltic. However, the Prime Minister implied…
The lowest level of material and social deprivation in the Baltic States was in Estonia in 2023, according to Eurostat data, LSM reports. Estonia had altogether around 31,000 people who were suffering from severe material and social deprivation in 2023, which was down from 40,000 in 2022. The number stood at 108,000 (135,000) in Latvia…
The Latvian government should keep the VAT rate on locally grown fresh fruit, berries, and vegetables reduced at 12% in the coming years as well, Agriculture Minister Armands Krauze stated, BNS reports. The minister said that he would insist on maintaining the reduced VAT rate. Moreover, he argued that the lower rate should be applied…
The finance ministers of the eight Nordic and Baltic countries as well as Poland have protested against the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) plan to resume missions to Russia, Euractiv reports. The nine EU ministers sent a joint letter to IMF director Kristalina Georgieva, warning that the decision to resume dialogue with an aggressor state would…
Lithuania has asked the European Commission (EC) to disburse EUR 463mn from the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), BNS reports. This is Lithuania’s third payment request under the facility. Lithuania asked for EUR 174.7mn in grants and EUR 288.3mn in loans. The EC will now assess the request and assess Lithuania’s achievement of the…
More than 60 Latvian companies are taking part in a large trade mission to the US led by President Edgars Rinkevics, Labs of Latvia reports. Around 80% of the companies represent the service sector. The delegation will visit three cities — Houston, San Francisco, and Denver — over 16-24 September 2024. Economy Minister Viktors Valainis…
The Estonian government expects to raise around EUR 2.47bn of new tax revenue to finance increased defence spending by the end of 2028, the Ministry of Finance estimated, ERR reports. The new so-called broad security tax will consist of three components: increased VAT rate, rise in personal income tax, and a corporate profit tax. The…
The president of the European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyen, has presented her list of candidates for EU commissioners, ERR reports. Estonia’s former prime minister, Kaja Kallas, was named as candidate for EU’s foreign policy chief earlier. If confirmed by the European Parliament, she will be one of six EC vice-presidents. Meanwhile, von der…
Lithuania’s central bank, the Bank of Lithuania, has raised its GDP growth forecast for 2024, BNS reports. The central bank now expects the GDP to grow by 2.2% in 2024, up from its previous forecast of 1.9% in June 2024. The central bank projects that the GDP will rise by 3.1% in 2025 and 3.3%…