The municipal government of the Latvian capital, Riga, has terminated procurement for the maintenance of the city’s bridges in 2024-2029, LSM reports. After announcing a new tender for the contract, the cheapest offer was 43% more expensive than in the initial tender announced in spring 2024, when both bidders failed to meet the requirements. The…
Producer prices in Latvian industry declined by 2.6% in August 2024, compared to the same period of 2023, according to data from the Central Statistical Bureau (CSP), LSM reports. Prices declined by 12.7% in energy supply, 1.4% in mining and quarrying, and 0.6% in manufacturing, but increased by 5.3% in water supply and waste management….
Estonia’s state-owned postal services provider, Eesti Post, which operates under the Omniva brand, plans to raise the price of universal postal services by a third as of 1 January 2025, ERR reports. If the Estonian Competition Authority (Konkurentsiamet) approves the rate hike, the postage price of a standard domestic letter will rise from current EUR…
Estonia’s producer price index of industrial output (PPI) rose by 1.7% in August 2024, compared to the same period of 2023, according to data from Statistics Estonia, ERR reports. Producer prices rose by on year 1.4% in manufacturing but fell by 1.9% in the production of food products. Compared to July 2024, the PPI rose…
Estonia’s central bank, the Bank of Estonia, will stop ordering one and two-cent coins as of 2025, ERR reports. Under new rounding rules, cash transactions will be rounded to the nearest five cents. Rait Roosve, head of the Bank of Estonia’s cash and payment systems department, noted that the smallest coins were seldom used for…
Estonia’s Ministry of Finance has proposed raising excise duties on alcohol, tobacco, and fuel by 5% per year over 2025-2028, ERR reports. The tax hikes would take effect as of 1 July 2025. The bill would raise alcohol and tobacco taxes more than initially planned for 2025 and 2026. Estonia’s excise tax on petrol has…
Average housing prices in Latvia rose by 1.1% in the second quarter of 2024 from the same period of 2023, according to provisional data from the Central Statistical Bureau (CSP), LSM reports. Prices of new housing increased by 11.4%, whereas the average price of existing housing dropped by 2.0% over a year. Compared to the first…
Lithuania’s GDP will grow by 2.3% in 2024 and 2.9% in 2025, according to the Finance Ministry’s revised forecast, BNS reports. In June 2024, the ministry projected that the GDP would grow by 2.1% in 2024 and 2.9% in 2025. Average annual inflation will slow down to 1.0% (1.1%) in 2024, before rising to 2.5%…
Consumer prices in Latvia rose by 0.7% in August 2024, compared to the same period of 2023, according to the Central Statistical Bureau’s (CSP) data, LETA reports. Compared to July 2024, consumer prices fell by 0.5%, however. Prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages increased by 3.5%, alcoholic beverages and tobacco by 7%, clothing and footwear…