The Estonian Tax and Customs Board (EMTA) collected EUR 6.12bn in taxes in the first half of 2023, which was 4.8% more than in the same period of 2022, ERR reports. State budget revenue amounted to 47.4% of the annual budget target. Social tax revenue rose by 12.2%, personal income tax revenue by 11.7%, and…
Estonian media reported that the Office of the President has made the promulgation of legislation passed by the parliament, the Riigikogu, contingent on the government agreeing to allocate additional funding, ERR reports. An anonymous minister told Postimees that Peep Jahilo, head of the Office of the President, requested an additional EUR 360,000 of funding from government…
Family doctors in Latvia are considering going on strike in autumn 2023, LETA reports. Speaking in an interview with TV3, Ainis Dzalbs, board member of the Latvian Association of Rural Family Physicians (LLGAA), insisted that the lack of budget funding made it impossible to provide proper patient care. He noted that patient queues currently exceeded…
Latvian ministries and other institutions have submitted proposals for priority budget measures worth EUR 1.983bn for 2024, according to the Ministry of Finance, LETA reports. Finance Minister Arvils Aseradens said that funding requests were EUR 250mn lower than in 2023. The largest requests were for teacher wages, health care, and defence. Other requests included covering…
US-based credit rating agency Fitch Ratings has reaffirmed Latvia’s sovereign credit rating at A-, which is unchanged from the previous rating in February 2023, LSM reports. At the same time, the agency revised its rating outlook from stable to positive. Fitch noted that Latvia had eliminated its dependence on Russian energy imports and reduced non-energy…
Estonia’s Minister of Defence, Hanno Pevkur, has approved a defence plan for 2024-2027 to increase the country’s military capabilities and defence forces, ERR reports. Pevkur said that Estonia would acquire “significantly more and better weapons, ammunition, and equipment,” as well as invest in people and infrastructure. The defence plans include investments in the Ämari Air…
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…
Estonia’s state budget deficit is likely to be smaller than forecast in 2023, the Ministry of Finance announced, ERR reports. In the first five months of 2023, budget revenues increased more than expected due to the rapid growth of wages and rise in prices. Tax revenue was 10% higher than a year earlier. At the…
The threat from Russia is and will remain real, and all NATO allies must understand and take it “extremely seriously,” Estonia’s Prime Minister, Kaja Kallas, stated, The Baltic Times reports. Speaking at the opening debate of a NATO conference in Vilnius, Kallas noted that all allies contributed 2% of GDP to defence in 1988 because…
