Annual inflation in the Baltic States was highest in Estonia in June 2023, according to Eurostat data, LETA reports. Estonia’s inflation rate stood at 9% in June 2023, followed by Lithuania with 8.2% and Latvia with 8.1%. Compared to May 2023, inflation amounted to 0.8% in Estonia. Meanwhile, consumer prices went down by 0.1% in…
The Latvian alliance of liberal political parties, Development/For, has changed its name to PLI, LETA reports. Miks Celmins, executive chairman of Movement For, said that PLI’s initials stood for the three parties that formed the alliance: Movement For (Kustiba Par), For Latvia’s Development (Latvijas Attistibai), and Growth (Izaugsme). Celmins said that PLI would not coordinate…
The cargo turnover of Latvia’s sea ports totalled 3.4mn tonnes in the first half of 2023, which was 14.2% less than in the same period of 2022, according to data from the Ministry of Transport, Baltic News Network reports. The Freeport of Riga handled 9.6mn tonnes of freight, followed by the Freeport of Ventspils with…
Latvia’s Minister of Interior, Maris Kucinskis, has added three owners of the Ventspils-based confectionery producer, Pobeda Confectionery, to the list of foreigners banned from entering the country due to national security concerns, Baltic News Network reports. In March 2023, Latvia’s State Security Service (VDD) found that Russian confectionery producer Pobeda, which has the same owners…
Latvia’s Food and Veterinary Service (PVD) has confirmed African swine fever (ASF) at a farm with 48 domestic pigs in Kraslava municipality, LETA reports. The farm has been quarantined, and all 48 pigs will be destroyed. This is the fourth confirmed ASF outbreak at a farm in Latvia in 2023. The first was recorded in…
Replacing Latvia’s current coalition government was “unnecessary” and would cause chaos, Edgars Tavars, chairman of the United List’s parliamentary group, stated, LETA reports. At the same time, he insisted that expanding the government, as proposed by New Unity leader, Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins, was “legally impossible.” Tavars pointed out that Karins himself had said that…
Latvia’s Ministry of Agriculture has proposed that a reduced VAT rate on fresh fruit, berries, and vegetables should remain in place in 2024 as well, Baltic News Network reports. The ministry’s report showed that fruit and vegetable farms in Latvia expanded more rapidly than in other EU countries in 2017-2022. At the same time, imports…
Latvia’s President Edgars Rinkevics said that he had a plan if the current coalition government fails to agree on continued cooperation by the end of August 2023, LETA reports. He refused to reveal the plan, saying that he would leave it as “a potential surprise for when the time comes.” Rinkevics urged political parties taking…
Around 54,000 secondary school students in Latvia passed and around 1,000 failed centralised exams in 2023, LETA reports. Exam results were the poorest in mathematics, with an average student performance of 35%, which was the lowest in all exams and 3.4% below the results in 2022. Average scores in Latvian language exams were better than…