A 15% lower excise duty rate on strong liquor is to enter into effect in Latvia on August 1. The reduced excise duty rate will apply through February 29, 2020. The reduced rate will not apply to beer, wine or other alcoholic beverages containing up to 22% pure alcohol. On July 8 the Saeima passed…
Pasazieru vilciens (PV) and Skoda Vagonka (Skoda) have signed a contract for the supply of 32 new electric trains. The contract states that all trains have to be supplied before the end of 2023. Company representatives say that the supply of new trains will be performed gradually – the first trains will be supplied in…
At the end of 2018 Latvia’s State Employment Agency (SEA) focused on the category of unemployed people older than 50. These people accounted for 40.5% of all unemployed people in Latvia, according to the agency’s 2018 report. Long-term unemployed people were also SEA’s focus last year. These people account for 25.1% of all unemployed people…
A total of 3.5 million passengers were serviced at Latvia’s international airports in the first half-year of 2019, up by 9.6% YoY, according to data compiled by the Civil Aviation Agency (CAA). At the same time, the number of serviced flights has increased by 7.57%. While the number of serviced flights was 40,117 last year,…
Industrial production output in Latvia in May when compared to the same period of 2018 increased by 1.7%, which was a more rapid growth rate than the average in the EU, according to data published by Eurostat. Among the EU member states for which data was available, industrial output growth was more rapid in Denmark…
Freight volume handled in the Port of Liepaja in January-June fell by 5.5% YoY, to 3.655 million tons, the Port Authority reported. Transshipment of grain fell by 23.9%, to 1,306,800 tons, while of anthracite grew by 16.8%, to 772,000 tons, construction materials – by 12%, to 450,500 tons, and oil products – by 5%, to…
Compared to April, the level of construction costs in Latvia grew by 0.6% in May. Labor remuneration of workers increased by 1.7%, prices of building materials by 0.5%, and maintenance and operational costs of machinery and equipment by 0.1%. In May, the average level of construction costs was affected the most by the increase in…