Thursday, April 16, 2026

Headlines

government spending

They want to patch the budget by draining Latvenergo: It is proposed to leave only 10% of the profit

Contrary to what was planned during the preparation of the 2025 budget and approved in the Saeima, namely that state-owned enterprises would have to pay 70% of their annual profit into the state budget as dividends until 2027, the government has now put forward an initiative stipulating that, starting already next year, the amount to be paid out as dividends must be at least 90%. This is evidenced by the agenda of the Cabinet of Ministers meeting on 2 September […]

State budget: in ten years there has not once even been a planned reduction of budget expenditures

Over the past ten years, the state budget has never once included a planned reduction in expenditures, and the government has also never been able to plan the budget realistically. Every year the state has spent 1.5 to 3.6 billion euros more than was planned when preparing and adopting the state budget, according to data from the Saeima, the Ministry of Finance and the State Treasury. The Cabinet of Ministers has now once again […]

Campaign optimization experts; how to campaign correctly at a time when one election has already ended, but there is still time until the next one

My personal opinion about IShowSpeed’s visit to Latvia. About how to campaign correctly at a time when one election has already ended, but the campaign period for the next one has not yet begun. The first wave of outrage on social networks has passed, so we can calmly watch the 33‑minute shortened video on YouTube and analyze it step by step. As we already heard from “Panorāma”, Latvia paid the social media star for this visit […]

Unsound solidarity; in the 1st quarter, Latvian commercial banks have paid over 30 million euros into the state budget

In the first quarter of this year, according to the Solidarity Contribution Law, Latvian commercial banks have paid more than 30 million euros into the state budget. Swedbank has paid the most and, objecting to this regulation, has appealed to the Constitutional Court. The annual reports of Latvian banks show that banks tried to increase their loan portfolios already last year, when the government spent the whole year discussing the Solidarity Contribution Law and adopted it at the end of the year […]

State travel enthusiasm: ministries and the prime minister have spent more than a million euros on business trips in the first quarter of this year

Among the ministers, the prime minister has traveled the most, while the farthest trips have been made by officials from the Ministry of Finance, the Minister of Agriculture, and an expert from the Ministry of Welfare. However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defence together have spent even slightly more than all the other ministries combined. How can it be that the Ministry of Climate and Energy (KEM) is ranked so high, when I haven’t been anywhere at all!? Probably about […]

Maintaining the capital’s city council is becoming more expensive for Riga residents

Despite residents’ dissatisfaction (possibly artificially created) with the expansion of bureaucracy in the Riga City Council, the capital’s municipality, in the name of coalition stability, decided today that the Mayor of Riga will once again have three deputies or vice-mayors. The third vice-mayor’s position will cost tax-paying Riga residents 167.22 thousand euros per year. Before the Council meeting, the municipality addressed the city’s residents about the restoration of the third vice-mayor’s position and invited them to […]