News | Latvia | Economy, Finances

Last year, Latvia's wood exports amounted to LVL 1.10 - 1.12 billion, the highest figure in the past 20 years, according to the Agriculture Ministry's approximate estimates.

Latvian businessman Viesturs Koziols, who already owns a 51 percent stake in the joint-stock media company "Diena", has acquired 47.86 percent shares in the newspaper previously owned by the Rowland family, according to an announcement made by ''Diena'' today.

None of the proposals for the recovery of "Latvijas Krajbanka" received by the bank's insolvency administrator, auditing company "KPMG Baltics", is feasible in practice, the company has concluded.

It is important to focus and make sure that as many as possible European Parliament members comprehend the issue of direct area payments in Latvia and the Baltic States, Saeima Speaker Solvita Aboltina (Unity) emphasized after today's meetings with Baltic agriculture ministers and European Parliament members.

The Japanese credit rating agency "Rating and Investment Information, Inc." ("R&I") has upgraded Latvia's credit rating from BB+ to BBB-. The rating outlook is stable, LETA was informed by the Finance Ministry.

Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics hopes that after the sanctions and oil embargo imposed on Iran by the European Union, the price of fuel will not substantially increase in Latvia.

"Latvijas Krajbanka's" insolvency administrator "KPMG Baltics" has received four plans for the bank's recovery, "KMPG Baltics" Senior Partner Stephen Young and Corporate Finance Director Aivars Jurcans announced during a press conference today.

Administrative District Court will rule this week on whether the Procurement Monitoring Bureau's decision to grant permission for the LVL 429.24 million-worth procurement of new trains should be suspended, as petitioned by the Swiss company "Stadler Bussnang AG" (Stadler).

In the nearest future, the Cabinet will have to decide between "Airbus" and "Boeing" bids to modernize "airBaltic's" fleet, Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis (Unity) told reporters today.

The Competition Council, on the basis of a petition from several housing management companies, has launched a case against the joint-stock natural gas utility "Latvijas Gaze" for failure to turn against its debtors and recover their debts in sufficient time, forcing new owners and tenants to pay them and restoring gas supply only afterwards, the business information portal "Nozare.lv" was informed by the council's representative, Inita Kabanova.