The Estonian government has agreed on the state budget for 2024, Prime Minister Kaja Kallas announced, ERR reports. Under the agreement, the government will introduce no new taxes in addition to ones implemented earlier. The government will not impose a new tax on commercial banks, which will instead pay more taxable dividends. Also, the government…
Lithuania plans to complete the construction of a National Concert Hall in Vilnius in 2030, the capital city’s mayor, Valdas Benkunskas, announced, BNS reports. Benkunskas expects a contract on the project to be signed in spring 2024. The Ministry of Culture estimated that the total cost of the project will amount to around EUR 121mn….
Estonia and Latvia have signed a contract to buy IRIS-T SLM medium-range air defence systems from Germany’s Diehl Defence, BNS reports. The deal, worth nearly EUR 400mn, is the biggest single defence contract in Estonian history. The procurement will include launchers, radars, fire control centres, and missiles. The first systems are due to be delivered…
Turkish-owned Liepaja Steel has abandoned plans to resume production at its steel plant in the Latvian city of Liepaja, LETA reports. The company will dismantle the plant’s steel melting furnace and move the machinery to Türkiye. Liepaja Steel failed to reach agreement with the Liepaja city council and the Liepaja Special Economic Zone (Liepajas SEZ)…
Estonia’s GDP totalled EUR 9.42bn at current prices in the the second quarter of 2023, which was up 5.1% from the same period of 2022, according to data from Statistics Estonia, ERR reports. Real GDP fell by 2.9% over a year, however. Compared to the first quarter of 2023, seasonally adjusted real GDP decreased by…
New electric trains in Latvia will not start carrying passengers before November 2023, state-owned passenger train operator Pasazieru Vilciens (PV) announced, LSM reports. Initially, the trains were supposed to be running in January 2023. Representatives of Czechia’s Skoda Group explained that the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine had disrupted the production and delivery…
Estonia’s electricity distribution system operator, Elektrilevi, plans to double investments in its networks to EUR 1bn over the next five years, ERR reports. Also, the state will invest around EUR 13mn in making the electricity infrastructure on the islands of Hiiumaa, Muhu, and Saaremaa more weather resistant. Elektrilevi will invest EUR 4mn to replace over…
Estonia should prioritise trade with free democratic societies, where the political risk is smallest, Estonian MEP Urmas Paet (Reform/Renew Europe), deputy chairman of the European Parliament’s foreign affairs committee, argues. Writing in an opinion piece for ERR, Paet criticised Estonia’s state-run export promotion agency, Enterprise Estonia, for advocating closer economic ties with Vietnam, which has…
The Lithuanian parcel locker operator, Omniva LT, has started the construction of a parcel sorting terminal in the Kaunas Free Economic Zone, Baltic News Network reports. The company plans to invest over EUR 40mn in the facility and sorting technology. Omniva LT expects construction to be completed in the second quarter of 2024. The terminal will…