The Ezerzeme Latgale region Tourism association surveyed more than 100 regional tourism businesses and found that many small businesses are concerned about not meeting the current criteria to qualify for government support during the state of emergency caused by the Covid-19 novel coronavirus, according to board member Līga Kondrāte on April 6.
Estonian and Finnish energy companies have written to the Latvian government objecting to a planned shutdown of an important energy link by Latvia's gas supply company for reconstruction work.
RB Rail AS, the joint venture over seeing the 6-billion-euro infrastructure project Rail Baltica project, said April 6 it had decided upon two contracts for design and design supervision services for the remaining two sections of the Rail Baltica main line in Latvia.
The government decision to declare a state of emergency has significantly changed Latvians' daily habits, and most people observe the government guidelines, according to research carried out by the state telecoms firm LMT in tandem with the University of Latvia.
Latvian airline airBaltic announced further reductions in its summer schedules April 3.
On April 1, investment fund Marguerite closed the sale to Japan's MM Capital Infrastructure Fund 1 of its 29.06% interest in AS Conexus Baltic Grid, the unified natural gas transmission and storage operator in Latvia, the company said April 2.
Latvian market and procurement watchdog the Competition Council (CC) said April 1 it had detected "competition deformation" in procurements by the local government in Rēzekne, eastern Latvia.
Like in many other European countries, internet usage has increased during the Covid-19 crisis, with students studying and parents working from home. People watch more films and TV series. Despite data usage going up 25% for one telecoms provider, Latvia's internet infrastructure still shows resilience, reported Latvian Radio April 1.
On March 31 the Latvian government supplemented the state of emergency measures implemented due to the current Covid-19 novel coronavirus pandemic with a ban on people who have come to Latvia from abroad from using public transportation, according to Latvijas Vēstnesis (Latvian Herald).
Many Latvian farms lacked the necessary amount of workers even before the Covid-19 novel coronavirus pandemic, and are turning to those newly unemployed due to the crisis to find new work hands, according to Latvian Agricultural Organization Cooperation Council (LOSP) Director General Guntis Vilnītis on March 29.
Startups and small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) with experience and interest in deep tech are invited to apply for the Startup3 Virtual accelerator program to upgrade the business to the next level. Applications close on April 20th, according to the Labs of Latvia website.
Latvian airline airBaltic said March 29 it had used one of its planes to bring much-needed medical supplies from China to Latvia.
Latvia reinforced its war chest to tackle the coronavirus crisis on March 26 by going to the financial markets and issuing an additional tranche of EUR 550 million of outstanding bonds maturing in 2026, with a yield of 0.406% at a pre-fixed coupon of 0.375%.
Latvia's Disease Prevention and Control Center seeks response from passengers on the bus that ran March 22 from 11 a.m. to 15.25 p.m. on the route Valka-Seda-Valmiera-Rīga.
On March 25, entrepreneur and patron of the arts Jānis Zuzāns said he'll cut €1 million in funding that he had planned for the arts this year.
Additional measures will be implemented on March 27 for regional bus routes to increase space between passengers and help observe social distancing, according to the Road Transport Administration (ATD) on March 26.
The government has extended support to businesses and employees affected by the Covid-19 crisis.
Latvia's central bank, (Latvijas banka, LB) updated its economic forecasts March 26 and unsurprisingly, given the severity of the world coronavirus crisis, the prognosis is not optimistic.
The Rīga temporary administration is acting to ensure sufficient transport flow during the coronavirus pandemic to reduce crowding, the Rīga City Council told the press March 26.
Latvia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs is warning Latvians abroad that flights to Rīga over the next few days will likely represent their last chance to return home for quite a while.
The chairman and chief executive officer of Latvian airline airBaltic announced March 25 he would not be receiving any wages for the duration of the coronavirus crisis, reported LSM's Latvian language service.
Many companies are closed during the Covid-19 outbreak, with employees staying home. But others are seeing increased demand for services and products. These latter now tend to absorb part of the workforce that is seeing downtime, reported Latvian Radio march 25.
The government decision to cover wages for employees seeing downtime during the Covid-19 pandemic will cost about €102m and cover 73,000 employees according to Economics Ministry estimates, reported the LETA news agency March 25.
Latvia's retail banks have agreed to raise the standard limit for "contactless" transactions to 50 euros from the previous 25 euros, saying that doing so will potentially help counter the spread of coronavirus via buttons and keypads.
Latvia's government on March 24 announced some further measures designed to counter the spread of the coronavirus.
Latvia's Welfare Minister Ramona Petraviča (KPV LV) said March 24 that cuts to the duration of unemployment benefits could be reversed.
The €441 million project to electrify Latvia's rail infrastructure has been cancelled after being mulled over and delayed for years.
The interactive project launched on February 1 by Latvian Public Broadcasting (LSM) in cooperation with Latvian Radio and Latvian Television invites people to help minimize bureaucratic absurdities by sending in their experience and voting on things they think should be changed, so that the project can call for real-life change.
If you're stuck at home doing your bit for social distancing, what better way to pass the time than by weighing up the comparative aesthetic merits of a small selection of Latvian coinage?
The Ministry of Transport has announced a new wave of additional commercial flights through which Latvian residents can return home, and other nationals can leave the country according to its website on March 23.