This year Latvian tax authorities are investigating 131 money laundering cases. Recently, the European Central Bank has decided to increase its supervision of European banks at high risk of money laundering, including Latvian banks.
According to the OECD experts, there is no significant need to increase the taxation of various forms of household savings in the developed countries but a lot could be improved in the design of these taxes.
Swedbank, the largest bank in the Baltic region, said it won't be drawn into the money laundering scandals that have affected some of its neighbors in the Baltics.
In the last year there were fewer international mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and fewer investment projects of factories built from scratch. The value of FDIs in Poland fell by more than a half.
Rail Baltica’s woes to continue as Lithuanian Latvian and Estonian auditors launch a probe into the internal control systems and public procurement strategies of the company. At the same time, Baiba Rubesa, CEO of the joint venture, resigned.
Over the course of the last dozen or so months, EU institutions, as well as the Polish Financial Supervision Authority have intensified their efforts to help fintech companies to develop.
In 2017, the value of fixed capital formation in the EU member states increased by EUR123bn y/y. In Poland, it was EUR5.5bn higher y/y, but its share in relation to GDP decreased to the lowest level in 20 years.
The latest Global Innovation Index (GII) has classified the Baltic States highly. The Index ranks 126 countries and their innovative aspects within political environment, education, and infrastructure and business culture.
One of the key issues in the economic debate across the world, and in particular in the developed countries, is the inadequate funding of retirement pensions. However, the fact that this problem is much more serious in the case of women has been overlooked.
According to the new guidelines of the European Commission, the share of recycled municipal waste will increase to 65 per cent. The EC announced that the EU will become a global leader in waste management and processing of recyclable materials.