The Latvian parliament, the Saeima, has approved amendments to introduce a reduced 12% value-added tax rate on selected basic food products in 2026, LETA reports. Under the amendments, the lower VAT rate will apply to various bread products, milk, poultry meat, and eggs. The reduced VAT will apply from 1 July 2026 to 30 June…
The average level of consumer prices in Latvia rose by 3.8% in November 2025, compared to the same period of 2024, according to data from the Central Statistical Bureau (CSP), LSM reports. The inflation rate was mainly influenced by the rise in food and non-alcoholic beverage prices (up 5.2%) and an increase in the price…
Estonia’s consumer price index (CPI) rose by 4.9% on year in November 2025, according to data from Statistics Estonia, ERR reports. Prices for services rose by 7.9% and for goods by 2.9% over a year. Compared to October 2025, the CPI dropped by 0.2%, however. Lauri Veski, team lead at Statistics Estonia, said that rising…
Estonia’s harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP) rose by 4.7% on year in November 2025, according to Statistics Estonia’s flash estimate, ERR reports. Compared to October 2025, the HICP fell by 0.5%, however. Lenno Uusküla, chief economist at Luminor Bank, expects the pace of inflation to continue slowing down in December 2025, as import prices…
Estonia’s consumer price index (CPI) rose by 5.2% on year in September 2025, driven mostly by a 7.7% increase in food prices, according to Statistics Estonia, ERR reported. Prices for goods rose by 2.8% and services by 8.9%. Compared to August 2025, the CPI fell by 1.1%. This was the first time that the CPI…
Employee optimism about wage growth is waning in the Baltic States, according to Citadele Bank’s Purchasing Barometer survey in August 2025, BNS reports. The survey showed that 15% of Lithuanian workers expect a pay rise in the next three months, compared to 12% in Latvia and just 6% in Estonia. Meanwhile, 10% of workers in…
Estonia’s GDP growth will reach 0.6% in 2025, according to the latest economic forecast from the Bank of Estonia, Estonian World reports. In June 2025, the central bank forecast that the GDP would rise by 1.5% in 2025. The central bank expects Estonia’s economy to grow by over 3% in 2026 and 2027, boosted by…
Estonian Finance Minister Jürgen Ligi said that public outcry over inflation was misplaced, ERR reports. He argued that complaining about rising prices was “as stupid as cursing bad weather when you wake up in the morning.” Ligi stressed that most prices were not under government control, and that the government could thus neither cause nor…
Estonia’s annual inflation may reach 6% or higher in 2025, driven by the rise in energy and food prices, local analysts forecast, ERR reports. Triinu Tapver, analyst at LHV Pank, said that inflation could amount to as much as 6.2-6.5% in 2025, which would be up sharply from the bank’s earlier estimate of 4.5% at…