The Latvian parliament, the Saeima, has passed amendments mandating the country’s largest banks to provide in-person customer service and to maintain a network of ATMs outside big cities as of 2026, LSM reported. The new rules will apply to Swedbank, SEB, Citadele, and Luminor. Currently, the big banks have no permanent customer service points in…
The financial regulatory authorities of the eight Nordic and Baltic countries have conducted a financial crisis simulation exercise under the Nordic Baltic Stability Group framework, ERR reports. The exercise was aimed at testing preparedness for a potential crisis situation, including in communication, information sharing, and collaboration between the authorities. Around 450 participants representing Nordic, Baltic,…
Estonia’s new ambassador to Georgia, Marge Mardisalu-Kahar, has presented her credentials to Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, Civil.ge reports. During the presentation ceremony, Zourabichvili and Mardisalu-Kahar discussed bilateral relations, Georgia’s EU integration, the situation in Georgia, and support for Ukraine. The ambassador assured that Estonia would continue to support Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic integration and Georgia’s territorial integrity….
The Estonian government has allocated a record EUR 185mn of EU funds for renovating apartment buildings, ERR reports. Infrastructure Minister Vladimir Svet said that another EUR 80-90mn would be available for renovations annually over the next three years. The state will thus provide altogether almost EUR 500mn of support through various instruments for apartment building…
Estonia’s central bank, the Bank of Estonia, will stop ordering one and two-cent coins as of 2025, ERR reports. Under new rounding rules, cash transactions will be rounded to the nearest five cents. Rait Roosve, head of the Bank of Estonia’s cash and payment systems department, noted that the smallest coins were seldom used for…
Estonia has voted in favour of a UN General Assembly resolution urging Israel to end the occupation of Palestinian territories, ERR reports. Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna noted that international law must apply to all UN member states. At the same time, he stressed that the vote did not change Estonia’s support for Israel. The US…
US technology company Google has removed altogether 18 Belarusian radio and TV channels from its YouTube video platform following a request from the Radio and Television Commission of Lithuania (LRTK), BNS reports. LRTK said that the accounts were directly linked to the Belarusian state broadcaster, Belteleradiocompany (BTRC), which is under EU sanctions. LRTK had made…
The lowest level of material and social deprivation in the Baltic States was in Estonia in 2023, according to Eurostat data, LSM reports. Estonia had altogether around 31,000 people who were suffering from severe material and social deprivation in 2023, which was down from 40,000 in 2022. The number stood at 108,000 (135,000) in Latvia…
The finance ministers of the eight Nordic and Baltic countries as well as Poland have protested against the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) plan to resume missions to Russia, Euractiv reports. The nine EU ministers sent a joint letter to IMF director Kristalina Georgieva, warning that the decision to resume dialogue with an aggressor state would…