The three Baltic States must agree on a new financing model for the Baltic joint venture, RB Rail, which manages the Rail Baltica railway project, CEO Marko Kivila and CFO Ojars Daugavietis stressed, LETA reports. Kivila noted that RB Rail’s budget remains largely unchanged in 2025, and that the company has therefore halted hiring and…
MPs from two parties in Estonia’s current coalition government have drafted a bill to cut the gambling tax, ERR reports. The group of MPs from the Estonian Reform Party and Estonia 200 proposed cutting the gambling tax by 0.5 percentage points every year to 4% by 2029. They argued that the tax cut could, in…
Estonia’s state-owned energy group, Eesti Energia, will merge all of its electricity business into its fully-owned subsidiary, Enefit, as of 2026, ERR reports. The group will merge its Enefit entities in Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland as well. The new Enefit will serve more than 560,000 retail customers in four countries. Eesti Energia says that the…
Lithuania’s largest cities are beginning the heating season earlier than usual in 2025 due to colder temperatures and poor weather forecasts, LRT reports. Vilnius switched on central heating on 1 October 2025, while Kaunas will start its heating season on 2 October 2025 and Klaipeda on 6 October 2025, BNS reported. Siauliai and Panevezys will…
The supervisory board of Latvia’s state-owned passenger train operator, Pasazieru Vilciens (Vivi), has appointed Raitis Nespors as the company’s new board chairman for a five-year term, LSM reports. Nespors served as member of Vivi’s management board in 2021-2024. Also, the supervisory board appointed Zane Abolina as a new member to Vivi’s board. Marcis Kaulins continues…
The taxable value of real estate property in Lithuania has increased by 90% since the beginning of 2021, according to an assessment by the Centre of Registers, BNS reports. The tax value of residential property has roughly doubled, while the value of other real estate has increased by 60-100% over five years. Property values have…
Most banks in Latvia will be eligible for rebates on so-called solidarity tax payments in 2025, according to the Bank of Latvia, LETA reports. The central bank noted that the growth of lending has been appreciably faster in 2025. Therefore, most banks will qualify for discounts on their solidarity contributions, amounting to 25-100%. The new…
Business sentiment in Latvia improved in all economic sectors in September 2025, according to the Central Statistical Bureau’s (CSP) latest survey, LSM reports. The business confidence indicator was 4.8% in retail trade, which was up 1.5 percentage points from August 2025. Business confidence stood at 1.7% in services (up 1.3 points), negative 3.5% in manufacturing…
Thousands of people demonstrated in the centre of the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, against Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas on 8 July 2025, BNS reported. The protest rally was organised by the Democracy Forum and local activists. The demonstrators demanded answers from Paluckas on his current and past business dealings, an end to the current coalition with…
