Lithuania’s GDP growth will amount to 2.4% in 2024 and 2.6% in 2025, according to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) latest forecast, BNS reports. The country’s economic growth will be driven by the growth of real wages, public investments, and low inflation, the IMF report states. Average annual inflation will reach 1.2% in 2024, the…
The construction price index in Estonia rose by 2.2% on year in the second quarter of 2024, according to data from Statistics Estonia, ERR reports. Compared to the first quarter of 2024, the index rose by 0.7%. The cost of labour rose by 1.3%, of machinery by 2.4%, and of building materials by 0.2% over…
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda has suggested that he does not want to see Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis appointed to the European Commission (EC), BNS reports. Nauseda argued that Lithuania should seek an economic portfolio rather than a foreign policy one in the new commission, stressing that economic portfolios were equally important. He pointed out that…
The number of unemployed people in Latvia totalled 62,000 in June 2024, which was 500 more than in the same period of 2023, but 900 less than in May 2024, according to the Central Statistical Bureau’s (CSP) estimate, LSM reports. Altogether 32,600 men and 29,400 women were unemployed. Latvia’s actual unemployment rate stood at 6.5%…
Estonia’s three-party coalition of the Estonian Reform Party, Social Democratic Party (SDE), and Estonia 200 has published its new coalition agreement, ERR reports. Under the agreement, the coalition pledges to cut the budget deficit to 3% of GDP in 2025 and 2026, and to reduce it further in 2027. The new government will raise most…
The share of children at risk of poverty in the Baltic States was lower than the EU average in 2023, according to Eurostat data, LSM reports. The statistics showed that as many as 21.7% of children under the age of 18 years in Lithuania were at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2023, compared…
Annual inflation in the Baltic States was highest in Estonia in June 2024, according to Eurostat data, BNS reports. Estonia’s harmonised annual inflation rate stood at 2.8% in June 2024, compared to 1.5% in Latvia and 1.0% in Lithuania. Compared to May 2024, prices rose by 0.5% in Estonia but remained unchanged in Latvia and…
Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braze has called for severing economic ties with Russia and Belarus “to the maximum,” LSM reports. She insisted that Latvia must continue to decontaminate itself from Russian influence, stressing that economic security was as important for national security as military security. Braze reiterated the need for robust EU sanctions against Russia…
Estonia’s three ruling parties are likely to draw up a new coalition agreement by 19 July 2024, the Estonian Reform Party’s candidate for prime minister, Kristen Michal, stated, ERR reports. He said that the three parties had already agreed on the majority of the text in the most important policy areas: competitiveness, growth, public finances,…