Institute of Private Finances.

According to the data provided by AS Latvenergo as at end of March, one in two households still pay the electricity bills based on the lowest or the so called start tariff  (8.25 santims per kilowatt-hour), for their total consumption in the last 11 months has not exceeded the limit of 1200 kilowatt-hours.  At the same time, according to the calculations conducted by Swedbank Institute of Private Finances in reality there is, probably, only one third of households which pay the electricity bills based on the start tariff. The conclusion is based on surveying only the households with the average monthly consumption above 50 kilowatt-hours during the recent year. Read more »

To catch up with men in terms of their average annual salary, Latvian women would have had to work extra 49 weekdays last year, as estimated by Swedbank Institute of Private Finances. This means that women would have to work one extra day every week. Read more »

Assistance in timely planning of purchasing items required for the child, a simpler parent and child benefits system and educating young parents in financial matters would make it easier for many Latvian families to plan their budget after a child is born. This was revealed in a survey of  young and would-be parents carried out by the Swedbank Institute of Private Finances in cooperation with the family web portal Cālis.lv. The Institute’s experts believe that these steps could improve the demographic situation in Latvia. Read more »

Despite the fact that salaries have remained flat in 2011 as compared to the year before, a part of the population have found it possible to purchase durable goods and spend money on home improvement, suggests the Central Statistical Bureau’s retail turnover data which shows that 2011 has seen a 6.2% year-on-year increase in the turnover of non-edible items. Read more »

Two thirds of Latvian families with children, aged two or less, when asked to comment on the recent census findings that the population of Latvia on the decrease and to give suggestions on how to improve the demographic situation, admit that the child planning decision in their family was never considered from the financial perspective, says the Swedbank Institute of Private Finances. Read more »

Among the factors that affected household budgets the most in 2011 were growing electricity, natural gas and petrol prices and the increase in the value added tax (VAT) rate. Regarding future, major concerns of people are related to increased food, housing and transport costs, the annual study carried out by the Swedbank Institute of Private Finances has found. Read more »

Diāna Krampe, Deputy Director at Swedbank Institute of Private Finances believes that this year most people inLatviawill spend the same amount of money as the year before to celebrate Christmas, with some households even raising the spending ceilings. Read more »

Diāna Krampe, Deputy Director at Swedbank Institute of Private Finances on the draft state budget for 2012 and its impact on financial situation of Latvian households: “This is the first instance in recent years, where the draft state budget has no significant impact on the financial situation of Latvian households. Read more »

Money is among the most wide-spread and frequent subjects of quarrels in Latvia’s rural areas and small towns, unlike in the capital city. According to the results of survey conducted by Swedbank Institute of Private Finances one in three respondents from rural areas and small towns have indicated financial matters as one of the most disputed subjects, while in Riga the numbers are down to one in four. Read more »

This year, 244 applications have been submitted to the research paper competition Young Financial Expert, which is almost twice as much as last year. At the same time, also the number of schools represented has tripled, reaching 105 educational establishments. The rapid increase shows that secondary education students are very interested in matters of personal finance. Read more »