Latvian Defence Minister Andris Spruds has welcomed the NATO Baltic Air Policing mission to Latvia in a ceremony at the Lielvarde Air Base of the Latvian National Armed Forces (NBS), LSM reports. Latvia will host the mission for the next nine months during major reconstruction at Estonia’s Ämari Air Base. The mission’s other base at…
Latvia’s Ministry of Finance has outlined its provisional plan for passing the 2025 state budget, LSM reports. Under the plan, the Finance Ministry will discuss budget goals with other ministries over March 2024 and submit stability programmes for 2024-2028 to the government, the parliament, and the European Commission for approval on 30 April 2024. The…
Russian fascist symbols continue to appear in public places in Latvia, LSM reports. In the latest incident, the letters Z and V, which indicate support for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, were spray-painted onto a bus stop along the Jelgava highway in Olaine. Public outcry prompted state road management company Latvijas Valsts Celi to…
Latvian fuel retailer Virsi-A (Virsi) posted consolidated unaudited net sales of EUR 343.732mn in 2023, which was down from EUR 375.110mn in 2022, LSM reported. The company’s gross profit amounted to EUR 37.692mn (EUR 32.771mn) and net profit to EUR 5.099mn (EUR 10.370mn). Virsi reported an all-time record EBITDA of EUR 13.7mn in 2023, which was…
Latvia’s Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (KNAB) has recovered EUR 120,000 in a bribery case involving a Latvian company attempting to bribe a Lithuanian official, LSM reports. The individual was prosecuted in Lithuania, while KNAB held the Latvian company liable through local courts. The unnamed company had tried to bribe the commander of the Lithuanian…
The unadjusted gender pay gap in the Baltic States was highest in Estonia in 2022, according to Eurostat data, LSM reported. In Estonia, women’s average gross hourly wage was 21.3% lower than that of men in 2022, which was up from 20.5% in 2021. The gender pay gap stood at 17.1% (14.6%) in Latvia and…
Latvia’s state-owned Riga International Airport (RIX) made a profit of EUR 1.6mn in 2023, which was up 4.6 times from a year earlier, LSM reported. The company’s net turnover rose by around 25% to EUR 72.5mn. Revenues from aviation services amounted to EUR 36.7mn (up 18%) and from non-aviation services to EUR 21.2mn (up 38%)….
Around 2,000 farmers protested across Latvia against the government’s agriculture policies on 5 February 2024, according to the Farmers’ Parliament (ZSA), LSM reported. Police said that the protests passed peacefully with no significant incidents, LETA reported. Farmers staged rallies with agricultural machinery in altogether 16 cities, calling for a ban on imports of Russian and…
Estonia ranks third on Estonian non-profit organisation e-Governance Academy’s updated National Cyber Security Index (NCSI), LSM reports. Estonia ranks third out of 31 countries on the index, with 85.83 points. Latvia is fifth with 79.17 points. Lithuania’s data is not included in the updated index. Estonia scored 80.02 points and Latvia 71.88 points in terms…