Estonia’s state budget took in EUR 8.8 billion in taxes in the first seven months of 2025, up by EUR 912 million YoY, the Ministry of Finance said. Tax receipts rose on the back of labor taxes, rate changes and major transactions before and after hikes. In July alone, EUR 1.3 billion was collected, EUR…
The Estonian government has decided to appeal a court ruling which halted the planned expansion of a military training area in South Estonia. According to the first tier Tallinn Administrative Court ruling, the government is required to conduct a proper national special planning procedure, together with substantive consideration of different alternatives to the expansion of…
Estonia’s self-sufficiency in pork production is expected to fall from 72% to just 39% next year as a result of the recent African Swine Fever (ASF) outbreak. The gaps in store shelves will need to filled by imported meat for at least a couple of years. Ten years ago, during the first outbreak of ASF,…
Six years ago, Estonia bought millions worth of precision weapons from U.S. arms maker LMT Defense, but the poor-quality batch had to be sent back for repairs. “If an automatic rifle misses the target by 30 centimeters from 300 meters away, then for a precision rifle it’s an absolute nightmare. It in no way meets…
Estonian pig farmers say they won’t abandon their work, even as mass culls and the worst African swine fever (ASF) outbreak in a decade threaten domestic pork supplies. More than 55,000 pigs – about one-fifth of the country’s domestic pig population – have already been destroyed. The hardest blow came in late August, when the…
Supermarkets told ERR that if VAT were lowered on food, they would pass on the savings to customers. The government has previously said retailers will pocket the difference themselves. Estonia’s VAT rate rose to 24% on July 1 and there are no exemptions on food products, unlike in many other European countries. A petition calling…
The Food Industry Association has written to the prime minister, saying stores are increasingly stocking cheaper foreign goods, disadvantaging domestic producers. The association told the prime minister and finance minister that there had been a 7% rise in foreign goods on supermarket shelves over the last year. “This means that a growing share of the…