A rail link to the Latvian capital, Riga, is planned to be built in the second phase of the Rail Baltica railway project, Marko Kivila, CEO of the Baltic joint venture, RB Rail, told LETA. He noted that the Baltic States had not agreed on a timetable for the second phase yet. There would be…
Lithuanian news outlet DELFI hosted its inaugural Most Influential People awards in Vilnius on 2 October 2025, ELTA reports. President Gitanas Nauseda won the award for the most influential politician. Other winners included journalist Edmundas Jakilaitis (media), construction entrepreneur Arvydas Avulis (business), public commentator Andrius Tapinas, Prosecutor General Nida Grunskiene (civil service), and discus thrower…
The Latvian parliament, the Saeima, has approved in final reading a law on setting up anti-mobility infrastructure along the country’s eastern border, LSM reports. Altogether 75 MPs voted in favour and 12 against the law. Latvia will build anti-tank ditches, obstacles, storage facilities, and other technical solutions over an area of around 2,000 hectares in…
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…
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…
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…
Lithuanian real estate developer Hanner and Baltic investment company BaltCap have completed a deal under which Hanner will take over the national stadium project in Vilnius, BNS reports. Hanner acquired 98% of shares in Venetus Capital, which owns the project’s concessionaire, Vilniaus Daugiafunkcis Kompleksas (VDK), for one euro. Hanner will pay EUR 2.8mn to BaltCap…
The coordination committee of the European Commission’s Connecting Europe Facility has approved another EUR 295.5mn of funding for the Baltic railway project, Rail Baltica, LSM reports. Of the total, EUR 47.1mn will go to Estonia, EUR 153.5mn to Latvia, and EUR 94.9mn to Lithuania. The project coordinator, RB Rail, said that the funds would be…
Estonia’s annual GDP totalled EUR 39.5bn at current prices in 2024, which was down 0.3% from 2023, according to data from Statistics Estonia, ERR reports. In the fourth quarter of 2024, the GDP totalled EUR 10.6bn, which was up 1.2% from a year earlier. This marked the end of ten quarters of recession in the…