Food prices in Latvian shops are beginning to follow global trends, Martins Kazaks, President of the Bank of Latvia, has said. He noted that in previous years Latvia had seen a pattern whereby food prices rose domestically when global prices increased, but when global food prices fell, prices in Latvia tended to remain unchanged and…
Starting on January 1, 2026, excise duty rates on tobacco products and alcohol in Estonia will rise by 10% and such tax increases typically lead to higher retail prices. Although both tobacco and alcohol excise duty rates were higher this year than last, tobacco excise revenue over the first 10 months of the year came…
Lithuanian farmers are raising concerns that a proposed European Union trade agreement with the South American bloc Mercosur could flood European markets with cheaper imports, undercutting domestic production. “At the same time that we in EU countries cannot grow cheap products using inexpensive chemicals or prohibited substances, the EU wants to sign agreements with South…
Since the beginning of 2025, the European Union has provided Ukraine with EUR 28.7 billion in financial support, bringing total EU assistance since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion to EUR 70.7 billion. Ukrainian Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Svyrydenko said this while commenting on the disbursement of EUR 2.3 billion under the Ukraine Facility…
The plummeting prices of Russian oil after US sanctions against “Rosneft” and “Lukoil” have hit the finances of oil companies, which this year have already faced a 2-3 fold drop in profits. At the current price of Urals oil, oil companies are struggling to cover capital costs at a number of fields, two sources in…
A third of small and medium-sized entrepreneurs (SMEs) do not rule out the possibility of closing their businesses within the next six months, according to a survey conducted by the SME association “Opora Russia”, Promsvyazbank, the analytical center NAFI, and Magram Market Research. To the question “Do you envisage the possibility of closing your business…
Russian citizens are increasingly saving on food and switching to purchases in hard discounters due to the “economic context,” said Ekaterina Lobacheva, president of the X5 Group, the country’s largest retailer, which unites more than 27 thousand stores in all regions, in an interview with “Kommersant”. “In 2025, the growth of consumption slowed down. Previously,…