Events, data and analysis from the Baltic economies
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Events, figures and analysis from Latvia.
Fitch Ratings has downgraded airBaltic’s Long-Term Issuer Default Rating to D, following the Latvian airline’s decision to enter Chapter 11 financial reorganisation in the United States. In Fitch’s methodology, a…
Latvia’s government has approved a 71-measure plan aimed at tightening immigration controls, including future quotas for third-country nationals, restrictions on foreign students and changes affecting foreign workers and residence permits.…
Latvia is preparing its road transport legislation for the full implementation of the EU electronic Freight Transport Information system, or eFTI, from 9 July 2027. From that date, authorities across…
Latvia has significantly eased access to its support programme for research-based startups, increasing public co-financing from 50% to 80% and widening eligibility to technologies that have reached TRL 8. The…
Heating and hot water accounted for 83.9% of all energy consumed by Latvian households in 2025, underlining how strongly household energy costs still depend on the efficiency of buildings and…
Latvia has decided to procure Czech-made 155 mm Morana self-propelled artillery systems from Excalibur Army, replacing an earlier plan to acquire Swedish Archer systems. The government had previously backed the…
Solar power plants generated 221 GWh of electricity in Latvia in August, more than twice the level recorded a year earlier, according to transmission system operator Augstsprieguma tīkls. Solar accounted…
Latvia will bring non-bank consumer lenders under the supervision of Latvijas Banka from 1 January 2027, after parliament approved the reform package in its final reading on 17 September. The…
Latvia-based equipment rental group Storent Europe has raised €12.96 million in a public bond offering across Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, exceeding its initially planned €10 million issue.
Latvia / Baltics · Energy / M&A · 11 September 2026 Latvenergo has opened a public selection process for wind or hybrid power projects with a combined capacity of up…
Latvia · Agriculture & Food · 13 September 2026 Latvia’s potato season has turned from optimism about yields to concern about whether part of the crop can be harvested at…
Latvia · Defence / Technology / Investment · 11 September 2026 Defence AI company NestAI is opening a research and development centre in Latvia, with a target of investing €10…
Latvia · Energy · 9 September 2026 Renewable-energy developer Sunly has qualified up to 100 MW of capacity to participate in Latvia’s electricity balancing market. Latvia’s transmission system operator AST…
The Latvian airline has received €140 million in emergency funding, but its Chapter 11 restructuring is opening a dispute over the value of aircraft collateral, creditors’ repayment rights and the future of state ownership.
PhotoAmber Latvijas balzams, the historic producer of Riga Black Balsam, is facing possible bankruptcy after creditors rejected its restructuring plan and Latvia’s tax authority froze its bank accounts again. The future of one of the country’s largest spirits…
PhotoIn 2025, almost everything in Latvia was shrinking: the population, births, remigration, immigration and even the number of deaths. Yet employers and universities continued to draw thousands of people from abroad. Their numbers are far too small to…
PhotoLatvia has allocated €3.2 million in public funding this year for measures promoting investment and exports. Meanwhile, MiTek Industries, part of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway group, says its new Latvian company has spent four months trying to obtain…
PhotoTThis week airBaltic’s Chapter 11 reaches its next important checkpoint. Objections to the final DIP financing order are due on October 2, ahead of the final hearing on October 9 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern…
PhotoairBaltic has entered a US court-supervised Chapter 11 restructuring after months of attempts to stabilise its finances. Flights continue and the airline has commitments for €350 million of new financing. The procedure now has to answer a more…
PhotoŠkoda Group has bought 36% of L-Ekspresis
PhotoS&P Global Ratings downgraded airBaltic to SD, or Selective Default, and lowered the rating on its €380 million senior secured bonds due in 2029 to D.
PhotoA cyberattack on Latvia’s Road Traffic Safety Directorate (CSDD) has developed into a wider governance crisis after authorities disclosed the scale of the breach and shortcomings in the institution’s cybersecurity arrangements. Data affecting 1.2 million individuals and around…
PhotoRescuing the airline could reward late bond buyers, protect Riga’s hub and preserve capacity for Lufthansa Group.
PhotoLatvia paid €168.1 million from the state budget to NGOs in 2025. The funding went to 1,940 organisations — about 7% of the country’s 27,884 registered associations and foundations. The figures are at the centre of a sharp…
Photo13,000–15,000 vehicles cross Latvia’s Pāternieki border checkpoint in an average month.
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