Latvia’s central bank and the country’s Finance Ministry have both lowered their GDP growth forecasts and raised their inflation forecasts. Latvia’s GDP growth will drop to 2.0% in 2026, before rising to 2.4% in 2027 and 3.0% in 2028, according to the Bank of Latvia’s latest macroeconomic projection. In December 2025, the central bank had…
At their summit in the Turkish capital, Ankara, NATO leaders decided to turn the alliance’s rotating Baltic Air Policing mission into an air defence mission, ERR reported. The change will allow NATO fighter aircraft to respond more rapidly to threats in Baltic airspace. NATO’s air operations centre in Uedem, Germany, will have authority to decide…
The Latvian government is in talks with a strategic investor for the country’s ailing national airline, airBaltic, Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs revealed, Reuters reported. He said that the potential investor was “a serious partner,” but refused to indicate what stake the investor could acquire. The state’s main condition was that the investor maintain airBaltic’s hub…
Russia may be planning provocations against the Baltic States or Poland to test NATO unity, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda and Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics warned, BNS and LETA reported. Nauseda said that intelligence indicated that Russia could be preparing “targeted kinetic operations” against critical infrastructure in the region. Rinkevics said that the intelligence reports pointed…
Latvia will deploy more air defence systems to its eastern border, Defence Minister Raivis Melnis announced, LETA reported. Speaking during a meeting with local government leaders, Melnis said that the deployment would include drones, radars, and interception systems, LSM reported. He thanked Ukraine for providing necessary help. Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs said that new counter-drone…
Latvia’s ruling United List alliance and the populist opposition party, Latvia First (LPV), were the country’s most popular political parties in June 2026, according to a new SKDS poll for LTV, LSM reports. United List’s support stood at 9.8%, which was up sharply from 6.8% in April-May 2026. Support for LPV was 9.8% as well,…
Completing the construction of the Rail Baltica railway in all three Baltic States by 2030 is “mathematically impossible,” Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs stated, LETA reported. Speaking in an interview with TV3, Kulbergs said that Estonian political leaders were living in a “dream world” regarding the project’s timetable, suggesting that they had been given incomplete…
Hackers have stolen large amounts of sensitive data from Latvia’s state forest management company, Latvijas Valsts Mezi (LVM), LETA reports. Baiba Kaskina, head of Latvia’s Cyber Incident Response Institution (CERT.LV), suggested that that the attack appeared to have been commercially motivated, LSM reported. A foreign ransomware group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Prime Minister…
The three Baltic States lack sufficient funding to complete the first phase of the Rail Baltica railway project, LSM reports. The total cost of the first phase is estimated at EUR 15bn, and only slightly more than EUR 5bn of funding has been pledged so far. Marko Kivila, CEO of the project’s central coordinating entity,…