Consumer prices in Latvia rose by 0.7% in August 2024, compared to the same period of 2023, according to the Central Statistical Bureau’s (CSP) data, LETA reports. Compared to July 2024, consumer prices fell by 0.5%, however. Prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages increased by 3.5%, alcoholic beverages and tobacco by 7%, clothing and footwear…
Nearly half (45%) of Estonians have seen their financial situation worsen in the past year, according to a Norstat poll for SEB in December 2023, BNS reports. Consumers are therefore cutting back on expenses, including by taking advantage of discounts (62%), planning purchases more carefully (49%), and eating out less often (45%). Other cost-saving measures…
The average level of consumer prices in Latvia rose by 3.3% in September 2023, compared to the same period of 2022, according to the Central Statistical Bureau’s data, LSM reports. The rise in food prices accounted for 1.5 percentage points, alcohol and tobacco for 0.6 percentage points, and health care for 0.6 percentage points of…
The Latvian government does not plan to make major changes to taxation in 2024, Finance Minister Arvils Aseradens assured, LSM reports. He said that now was not a good time to make changes in VAT, labour taxes, personal income tax, or corporate income tax. However, the Ministry of Finance will propose raising the excise duties…
The municipal government of Estonia’s second-largest city, Tartu, is considering introducing new time restrictions on the sale of alcoholic beverages, ERR reports. The city council will discuss possible restrictions in October 2023. In spring 2023, the municipality agreed with most nightclubs in the city to close their doors half an hour earlier in summer. However,…
Lithuania’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Mantas Adomenas, has resigned after being caught driving under the influence of alcohol, BNS reports. Police stopped him in the town of Alanta. Adomenas said that he had 0.62 permilles of alcohol in his bloodstream. He apologised for the incident and said that he would resign. Adomenas was appointed deputy foreign…
Latvia’s Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) has released a list of Latvian companies that continue to export to Russia and Belarus, LETA reports. Economy Minister Ilze Indriksone instructed CSB to publish the list, which includes nearly 1,000 companies. The most common goods exported from Latvia to Russia include food products, alcoholic beverages, chemicals, medical products, machinery,…
Latvia’s Health Ministry has proposed amendments to further restrict the availability of alcohol, LSM reports. The amendments would reduce the sales hours of alcoholic beverages, ban sales of alcohol at petrol stations, and raise the legal drinking age to 20 years. The ministry hopes that the amendments will reduce alcohol consumption, illness, injuries, and mortality….
Shorter alcohol sale hours in Lithuania have led to a decline in male deaths on Sundays and Mondays, according to a new study, BNS reports. Daumantas Stumbrys, senior researcher at the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences (LSMU), found that the mortality rate spiked on Sundays and Mondays, but had decreased to the weekly average since…