The current foreign exchange rates show concerns about the Georgian lari depreciation are “groundless,” Georgian Finance Minister Lasha Khutsishvili has said. Khutsishvili asserted all sources of currency inflow in the country, including export and tourism, were “functional” and “growing”. “After an intervention, today’s official exchange rate has appreciated by around 8 tetri. The situation in…
Lithuania’s Social Security Ministry has drafted a bill to offer social benefits for Ukrainian war refugees. “Those are extra social guarantees for people, in addition to the temporary protection mechanism,” Social Security and Labour Minister Monika Navickiene told MPs while presenting the draft amendments. Once a person is granted temporary protection in Lithuania, they will…
The Government has increased the expenditures of the reserve fund of the state budget by UAH 50.8 billion, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal has announced in a video address. “This will allow the needs of the security and defense sector to be promptly met under martial law,” noted the Head of Government. Besides, Denys…
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved amendments to the procedure for crediting part of the excise tax on fuel produced in Ukraine and imported into the customs territory of Ukraine to the general fund of the relevant local government budgets. The resolution establishes shares for the automatic distribution among local budgets of part (13.44%)…
Total production of industrial enterprises in Estonia increased by 1.4% YoY in January, state agency Statistics Estonia reported. Inflation has curbed higher levels of growth, however, and the rate has slowed. Production increased by 1.8% in manufacturing and by 3.9% in mining, the agency said, while energy production grew by just 0.2%. Helle Bunder, analyst…
Small- and medium-sized entrepreneurs will be able to easier access loans provided by commercial banks partners of the Organization for Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises Sector Development (ODIMM), the government’s communication and protocol department has reported. The Cabinet has approved amendments to the Law No. 179/2016 on small- and medium-sized enterprises, which will allow simplifying the…
A US-Georgia free trade agreement (FTA) would have a net positive effect for both countries, Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani told Brock Bierman, an opinion contributor for the American newspaper The Hill. Bierman has recently published an article entitled “Give Georgia a free trade agreement”, in which he has called for considering building “resilience in…