Latvia’s prime minister nominee, MP Andris Kulbergs of the opposition United List, announced that he would seek to form a four-party coalition government, LSM reported. After trilateral talks, United List, the National Alliance, and the Union of Greens and Farmers (ZZS) agreed to invite outgoing Prime Minister Evika Silina’s party, New Unity, to the negotiations….
The Latvian government may impose a new surplus profit tax on individual banks as of 2025, Economy Minister Viktors Valainis has announced, LSM reports. The tax could be levied for two years. Valainis argued that the tax would incentivise banks to increase their lending significantly. Banks that increased their volume of lending could then be…
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…
Latvia’s President, Edgars Rinkevics, met with the governor of the Bank of Latvia, Martins Kazaks, to discuss issues related to the banking and financial sector, Baltic News Network reports. The officials noted that high lending costs weakened banks’ interest in providing lending services. Rinkevics called for a “radical change of direction” from Latvian commercial banks,…
While Latvia’s economy is generally resilient and the labour market remains strong with low unemployment, the economy will still face significant fragility in 2023, Martins Kazaks, president of the Bank of Latvia, warned, LSM reports. Speaking in an interview on LTV, Kazaks emphasised the need for economic transformation in order to avoid falling behind other…
