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…
Latvia’s Ministry of Education and Science has proposed reducing the number of advanced-level centralised exams in secondary school by one, LETA reports. Under the ministry’s proposal, graduates would be required to take five instead of six mandatory exams. At the moment, high school graduates in Latvia need to take five compulsory exams: Latvian, a foreign…
The Latvian government will need to borrow EUR 3.8bn on international financial markets in 2026 and EUR 4.3bn in 2027, according to Janis Rozenbergs, deputy manager of the State Treasury, LETA reports. He told the budget and finance committee of the Latvian parliament, the Saeima, that the government needed around EUR 2bn per year to…
Most banks in Latvia will be eligible for rebates on so-called solidarity tax payments in 2025, according to the Bank of Latvia, LETA reports. The central bank noted that the growth of lending has been appreciably faster in 2025. Therefore, most banks will qualify for discounts on their solidarity contributions, amounting to 25-100%. The new…
The Latvian government may have to take additional austerity measures to implement the ruling coalition’s policy priorities, Prime Minister Evika Silina stated, LETA reports. Earlier, ministries submitted proposals to cut altogether EUR 150mn in public sector spending in 2026. Speaking in an interview with TV3, Silina said that the sum might not be enough to…
Owners of electric scooters in Latvia need to have mandatory third-party liability (OCTA) insurance as of 1 July 2025, LETA reports. The price of OCTA insurance policies for e-scooters will likely be around EUR 24-50 per year. Insurance industry organisations will launch targeted awareness campaigns to inform owners about the need for OCTA. According to…
Latvia finally launched an early warning or cell broadcast system on 1 July 2025 after delays in the procurement process, LETA reports. The system was developed by Meditec for EUR 3.4mn under a contract with the Ministry of Interior’s Information Centre. The system will warn residents and visitors about natural disasters, military threats, or other…
Foreign-registered ships made altogether 2,741 visits at Latvian ports in the first half of 2025, which was down 7.1% from 2,949 visits in the same period of 2024, according to data from the Maritime Administration of Latvia (LJA), LETA reports. Foreign ships entered the Freeport of Riga 1,293 times, the Port of Liepaja 616 times,…
Over half of Latvian municipalities have new mayors following local elections on 7 June 2025, LETA reports. Municipal councils elected altogether 22 new chairpersons, while 20 incumbent mayors remained in office. Political groups that received the most votes failed to secure the mayorship in 12 municipalities, including in Riga, Jelgava, and Ventspils. In some municipalities,…