Latvia’s New Unity will form a new coalition government with the Union of Greens and Farmers (ZZS) and the Progressives, New Unity’s prime minister candidate, Evika Silina, announced, LSM reports. Silina said that the Latvian parliament, the Saeima, could possibly vote on endorsing the new government on 15 September 2023. The new coalition would have…
Latvia’s average gross monthly wage amounted to EUR 1,525 in the second quarter of 2023, which was up 12.0% from the same period of 2022, according to the Central Statistical Bureau’s working-day and seasonally non-adjusted data, LSM reports. Average wages rose by 12.2% in the public sector and by 11.9% in the private sector over…
Latvia’s United List has rejected an offer from prime minister-designate Evika Silina to form a four-party coalition government with New Unity, the Union of Greens and Farmers (ZZS), and the Progressives, LSM reports. Edgars Tavars, head of the United List’s parliamentary group, said that his group would propose another coalition model instead, with Silina still…
Latvia’s Ministry of Transport supports the resumption of passenger train traffic between Latvia and Lithuania, LSM reports. The ministry said that the priority was reopening the route from Riga via Daugavpils to Vilnius. The Latvian and Lithuanian passenger train operators, Pasazieru Vilciens (PV) and LTG Link, have drawn up various options for routes, operators, and…
Altogether 263 companies in Latvia continue to export goods to Russia or Belarus, according to the Central Statistical Bureau, LSM reports. The data show that 169 businesses export goods to Russia and 94 to Belarus. The list includes 38 companies that began doing business with Russia or Belarus after the start of the full-scale Russian…
Latvia had a total of 62,200 people unemployed in July 2023, which was 4,100 less than a year earlier but 600 more than a month ago, according to the Central Statistical Bureau’s labour force survey, LSM reports. Latvia’s actual unemployment rate stood at 6.5% in July 2023, which was down 0.4 percentage points from a…
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…
Latvia’s greenhouse gas emissions rose by 7.5% in the first quarter of 2023, compared to the same period of 2022, according to Eurostat data, LSM reports. The increase was the second highest in the EU. Overall greenhouse gas emissions in the whole EU decreased by nearly 3% over a year.
Latvia’s central bank, the Bank of Latvia, supports the Finance Ministry’s plan to introduce a mandatory requirement that banks pay corporate income tax on their profits in advance, LSM reports. Martins Kazaks, governor of the Bank of Latvia, argued that the solution should be permanent, thus ensuring that banks contribute to the state budget every…