It has not been the easiest year so far for Latvia's financial sector, to put it mildly. ABLV bank has gone into liquidation following allegations of money-laundering from the U.S., the central bank governor has been charged with corruption and officials have scrambled to introduce reforms to prevent the sector being frozen out of the mainstream financial trading systems.
The French writer Guy de Maupassant famously said that the view from the Eiffel Tower was the best in Paris – because it was the one place in the French capital where you didn't have to look at the Eiffel Tower, which he disliked.
Ministries are demanding an additional EUR 141.9 million for increasing salaries in 2019, according to data compiled by the LETA news agency.
Results of the most recent Labour Force Survey conducted by the Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) and released August 15 show that in the 2nd quarter of 2018 the Latvian unemployment rate constituted 7.7 %.
As a gigantic infrastructure project, Rail Baltica will have a significant impact on the Baltic construction market and may even help lure migrants from the region home, according to a discussion held at the Arvamus opinion festival in Paide, Estonia on August 11.
Availability of workforce is a big problem for food producers, and there is a big shortage of low-qualified workforce, Toms Didrihsons, the board chairman of Orkla Confectionery & Snacks Latvija food producer told LETA news agency August 13.
An invitation for bids was issued August 10 as part of the first stage of the Latvian Railroad Network Electrification project, Latvijas Dzelzcels railroad company informed the LETA newswire.
The Irish low-fare airlines Ryanair has cancelled its scheduled flights from Riga to Brussels, Berlin and Bremen on Friday, August 10, Riga International Airport told LETA.
The latest data of the Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) released August 8 show that in July 2018, compared to July 2017, the average level of consumer prices rose by 2.6 %. Prices of goods grew by 2.4 % and prices of services by 3.2 %.
Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis (Greens/Farmers) has submitted to the prosecutor’s office his report on the implementation of the mandatory purchase component (MPC) system from 2007 to 2018, including information on an allegedly unlawful licensing of ten wind farms for government support under the MPC system, the prime minister’s spokesman Andrejs Vaivars told LETA August 8.
Business is often talked about in terms of a willingness to take risks. There is high-risk, low-risk, calculated risk, counter-intuitive risk and even gut instinct risk. All those risks are undertaken in the anticipation of getting something in return. Quite where the profit lies in climbing the swaying 34-meter tall wooden tower that we are standing beside in a howling gale is not clear.
Latvia's government on August 7 approved participation at the 2020 Dubai Expo, with business representatives saying that sending and setting up a pavilion there would cost the country at least 6 million euros.
A total of 3,294 pigs have so far been put down on the Druvas Unguri farm which was hit by an outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) last week, Ilze Meistere, a spokeswoman for the Food and Veterinary Service, told LETA August 6.
Applications are open for an unusual business event, even by the standards of startup culture: a Minsk-Riga Startup Train Hackathon.
On August 3 the Latvian government granted €367,000 for liquidating domestic pigs at the Druvas Unguri farm in Western Latvia struck by African Swine Fever, a highly contagious porcine disease.
Latvia's banking regulator, the Financial and Capital Market Commission said August 2 that the financial sector "has got rid of undesirable shell companies" following an intense U.S. - inspired crackdown on money laundering.
The biggest outbreak of the African Swine Fever since 2014 just took place in Latvia, with a flock of 15,570 domestic pigs affected at a farm in Saldus, western Latvia.
After purchasing new electrical trains, Pasazieru Vilciens rail passenger carrier plans to introduce an interval timetable and raise the number of passengers from the present 17 million a year to 25 million a year, the company’s CEO Rodzers Janis Grigulis told the press August 2.
Driving into Jelgava on the main road from Rīga, you might be forgiven for thinking you were in provincial Germany rather than central Latvia. At least three of the large, modern new factories lining the route have the black, red, gold of the German flag fluttering outside them on a sweltering day.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said August 1 Latvia had earned recognition for the quality of the economic data it produces in an official capacity, placing it among the top tier of countries for data standards. Latvia becomes only the seventeenth country in the world that implements the highest tier in the IMF's data dissemination standards initiatives.
The IKEA store building in Stopiņi, just outside Rīga, has been officially completed, the Construction State Control Bureau told the press July 31.
On July 31 the Burka (The Jar) zero-waste grocery store is opening up shop in Rīga, the owners told the press.
Calendar adjusted data (at constant prices) compiled by the Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) and released July 30 show that, compared to June 2017, in June 2018 total retail trade turnover rose by 5.6 %.
A new investigation by online news portal Buzzfeed in collaboration with members of the Baltic Center for Investigative Journalism, Re:Baltica focuses on a foreign expert and a report on Latvia's non-resident banks.
A flash estimate released July 30 by the Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) shows that, compared to the 2nd quarter of 2017, in the 2nd quarter of 2018 Latvia's gross domestic product (GDP) value increased by 5.1 % (seasonally and calendar non-adjusted data).
In the first six months of this year Latvia’s national carrier airBaltic posted EUR 180.8 million in sales, up 19 percent from the respective period last year, the company reported.
Latvia's financial regulator, the Financial and Capital Market Commission (FKTK), gave some details July 25 of an "infringement" at the Baltic States' single Central Securities Depository (Nasdaq CSD SE).
Introduction of the 5G network is a long-term process and standardization of 5G network might be completed by 2021, said Latvijas Mobilais Telefons (Latvian Mobile Telephone, LMT) president Juris Binde July 27.
More Estonians visited Latvia last year than Finland, for the first time in many years, reports Estonia's ERR citing data by statistics Estonia (stat.ee).
The Association of Latvian Commercial Banks announced July 25 it is changing its name and expanding its activities to become the Finance Latvia Association.