Latvia is a country in Eastern Europe and one of the Baltic countries - the three countries that lie on the east coast of the Baltic Sea: Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Historically, Latvia has been part of numerous other political entities, including Old Livonia, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Russian Empire and the USSR. Finally, the country gained independence in 1991.
Since the 13th century Latvia was an important trading hub and a bridge between Eastern Europe and the rest of the continent, it was also an important member of the Hanseatic League and it dominated maritime trade in the Baltic Sea until the 16th century. Today, Latvia is an independent market and an important economic player in the Baltic States.
Business In recent decades, Latvia has implemented a number of reforms in support of trade and the internal market, which have proved successful and improved the business environment. The amount of foreign investment and domestic consumption has increased during this period (except for a setback during the 2008-2009 crisis), showing that both Latvian residents and foreign investors have confidence in Latvia's current economic environment.
The already mentioned crisis of 2008-2009 strongly affected the economy of Latvia, as it happened in many other countries. There has been a 17% fall in GDP and a peak in unemployment of 17% (more than 20% according to some estimates), and the situation peaked in 2010, just after the crisis. The economy entered the phase of contraction, during which the so-called informal economy or shadow/unofficial economy occupied about 40% of the whole Latvian economy.
From 2010 to 2012, Latvia implemented various economic reforms and projects to restore damage economy. With the help of international funds, the country finally announced in 2012 that the economy was growing steadily again. This claim was also approved by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). GDP, exports and domestic consumption grew, and unemployment fell to around 9.5% in 2016 (almost double the crisis-era low).
Economic sectors Traditionally, there are four economic sectors: agriculture (including mining and extraction of natural resources), industry and manufacturing, services and information technologies (and other knowledge-based areas). Like the majority of the world's most developed countries, Latvia relies on the tertiary and quaternary sectors, namely services and knowledge-based industries.
Agriculture in Latvia The agricultural sector accounts for 4% of Latvia's GDP and employs approximately 7.7% of the population. The main industries within the agricultural sector are grain production, livestock, potatoes, sugar beet and other vegetables. The main agricultural export product is timber, as Latvia is rich in forests and forestry is generally well developed in the country. Apart from that, however, Latvia's resources are scarce and therefore not very developed. This applies in particular to energy-related resources - these and their products are mainly imported from abroad.
Industry in Latvia The industrial sector is the second most developed economic sector in Latvia. It contributes 24% to the country's GDP and around 28% of the labor force is employed in this sector. The most developed industries are metal processing, food processing and construction. Recently, high-tech industry is also undergoing significant development, and although this sphere is not currently an important branch, it is expected that this sphere will make an important contribution to the Latvian economy.
Legal Form of the Company Prior to establishing an enterprise it is essential to assess and choose the most appropriate type of an undertaking in terms of law and economics. This choice will affect not only the amount of necessary equity capital, but also the legal status of the enterprise and other business related issues.
Foreign entrepreneurs usually register the following types of undertakings:
limited liability company (SIA); joint stock company (AS); branch; representative office of foreign merchant
Obtaining a residence permit The uniqueness of these amendments lies in the fact that a new method for obtaining a residence permit was introduced – investing in real estate. It has attracted a large number of investors, as a foreigner investing in real estate has the possibility to move freely within the Schengen area. Citizens of the Russian Federation are especially interested in using this possibility, as Latvia is located in its vicinity and is a popular tourism destination due to its unique cultural monuments, well-known resorts and international festivals.
Benefits of holding temporary residence permit to stay in the Republic of Latvia for a period of time not exceeding five years to freely cross borders between EU Member States and non-EU countries to move and stay up to 90 days within a 6 month period to other EU countries except for the United Kingdom, Ireland, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Romania to obtain a Latvian or EU permanent residence permit after five years to obtain temporary residence permits for the spouse and children What is residence permit? A residence permit is a document that gives a foreign citizen the right to temporarily (a temporary residence permit) or permanently (a permanent residence permit) stay in the Republic of Latvia. Invest wisely, invest in real estate which value is predicted to increase!
Temporary residence permit Issued for up to 5 years Must be re-registered every year Notice: According to amendments to the Immigration Law of the Republic of Latvia, adopted on 1 July 2010, expanding the possibilities to obtain a residence permit in Latvia for foreign nationals who want to stay and move freely within the Schengen area. Conditions on investing in real estate.
Swedbank is a modern bank with strong roots in Sweden's savings bank history. An inclusive bank with 8 million retail customers and more than 600,000 corporate and organizational customers.
This makes Swedbank the largest bank in Sweden in terms of the number of customers, giving it a leading position in the banking markets of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. As a big bank.
Swedbank is an important part of the financial system and plays an important role in the local communities it serves. Committed to helping our customers, our shareholders and society as a whole to remain financially healthy and sustainable.
Latvia is a member-state of the European Union, which is why licences for importing goods to Latvia are needed only when importing from third countries. Below, you will find a table of goods that require submitting an import licence upon entering Latvia from a non-EU country.
Combined Nomenclature codes The Combined Nomenclature (CN) codes are a system of markings developed by the European Union for the purpose of marking goods. It is used both for statistics and classifying goods. The CN codes allow distinguishing between goods in a compact and precise way. They can also be used alongside non-official descriptions of products in order to provide references in case the descriptions are inaccurate or otherwise difficult to understand.
The Schengen Area is a group of 26 European countries that have abolished passport and immigration controls at their shared borders. The Schengen area consists of twenty-two member states of the European Union (EU) and four member states of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). It functions almost as a single country for international travel purposes, with its own common visa policy covering things like short-term visits and some types of work visas.
Short Story The Schengen Area was created on the basis of the Schengen Agreement (named after the city in Luxembourg where it was signed) and led to the creation of the borderless area of Europe in 1995. The agreement was signed on June 14, 1985 by five of the then ten member states of the European Economic Community. It proposed the gradual abolition of border controls at the common borders. Proposed measures included reduced-speed vehicle checks, allowing vehicles to cross borders without stopping, giving residents in border areas the freedom to cross borders away from fixed checkpoints, and harmonizing visa policies.
Changes In 1990, the agreement was supplemented by the Schengen Agreement, which provided for the abolition of internal border controls and a common visa policy. The Schengen area functions very much like a single state for international travel purposes, with external border controls for travelers entering and exiting the area and common visas, but no internal border controls.
Participants of the Schengen area The Schengen area currently consists of:
Austria Belgium Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Greece Hungary Iceland Italy Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland
Since January 1, the Latvian banking system has been part of the Eurosystem, so the principles of the Eurosystem apply.
In order to achieve the price stability objective, the Eurosystem uses a range of monetary policy instruments and procedures. The strategy targets the level of money market interest rates needed to maintain price stability over the medium term, while the operational principles describe the means by which the relevant interest rate levels can be achieved using available monetary policy tools and procedures. The ECB controls short-term money market interest rates through its decisions on key ECB interest rates, which reflect the ECB's monetary policy stance and affect free liquidity in the money market.
Based on the available information on recent economic developments, the ECB needs to assess their impact on future risks to price stability. The monetary policy strategy followed by the ECB when analyzing macroeconomic developments is based on two pillars.
The first pillar includes an analysis of many economic and financial variables with potential implications for price stability in the short or medium term. The second pillar comprises an analysis of monetary aggregates, which points to the leading role of money in maintaining price stability and focuses on a longer-term perspective. Both strategic pillars of the Eurosystem aim to ensure a thorough analysis of monetary, economic and financial developments across the euro area. This detailed analysis allows the ECB to set the key ECB interest rates at levels that are best suited to fostering price stability in the euro area as a whole.
The concept of outsourcing some of the day-to-day activities of the company has proven to be an effective way to improve performance in many countries. Many companies have found it beneficial to eliminate all departments not directly related to their primary line of business: sales, manufacturing, or services.
We provide accounting services for small and medium sized businesses (accounting services only in Latvia, Lithuania or Estonia) and offer an efficient and friendly service that offers cost-effective solutions for your accounting and payroll needs in all Baltic States. We implement a full financial analysis of accounting and timely notification of the manager about any risks that threaten successful business development. We take care of preparing accounting reports, all necessary accounting documents related to Latvia and submitting them to the State Revenue Service, Central Statistical Office and other institutions of the Republic of Latvia.
Our accounting services in Latvia include: Financial accounting and reporting Accounting for special purposes (payroll, accounting in the customer system, helping foreign customers to fill out VAT returns, etc.) Preparation of annual accounts Creation of regulatory documents (e.g. internal accounting regulations) Communication with the tax authorities Complete management of the company's accounts Accounting advice in day-to-day business Beyond creating the books and reports, we continue to work with the client. At this stage, our services include, among other things, monitoring the accounting activities performed by the client and assisting in solving accounting issues. Our services also include:
Ad hoc support for internal finance staff, financial controllers and management on accounting and tax issues Assistance with statutory or internal audits Conducting periodic reviews of accounting records and procedures Implementation of a model for posting transactions in the group's single currency Implementation of a reporting model for group reporting purposes Development of a methodology for creating and controlling the company budget
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