Although half of the surveyed Latvian companies still rate the business environment in Latvia negatively, over the past year all sub-factors influencing the business environment have improved - except for the administrative burden.

After declines in the previous two years, 2025 shows a positive trend: the proportion of negative assessments has dropped by ten percentage points - from 63% to 53% - while 47% of entrepreneurs rated Latvia’s business environment as good.

As a result, the Turība Business Index, which reflects Latvian entrepreneurs’ overall opinion of the state of the business environment, decreased from -19 to -11 points in 2025 (compared with -16 points in 2024).

The results of the Latvian entrepreneurs’ survey, “Turība Business Index 2026”, were presented on March 18 at the international scientific conference of Turība University.

Opening the conference and presenting the index results, Professor Zane Driņķe, Rector of Turība University, highlighted that infrastructure indicators - particularly internet access and overall infrastructure provision - remain at a consistently high level and have been the highest-rated factors for several years. She noted: “At the same time, the eight-year survey data clearly indicate the general trend - entrepreneurs rate the government’s attitude towards business, labor availability, tax policy, and administrative burden the lowest. The administrative burden is consistently recognized as the most problematic factor hindering business development”.

Raimonds Čudars, Minister of Smart Administration and Regional Development, pointed out public uncertainty regarding labor market changes linked to the increasing adoption of artificial intelligence (AI). He emphasized the importance of discussing AI opportunities and creating clear future scenarios.

Entrepreneurs gave the lowest ratings to the government’s influence on business development, legislative stability, labor availability, and corporate tax levels. While these factors remain negatively rated, a gradual improvement compared with 2024 is observed. The only sub-factor that worsened is the administrative burden, which dropped from -42 to -45 points.

Factors that received an overall negative assessment include competition between the public and private sectors, transport and road conditions, ease of business closure, legal environment, and access to finance.

Positively evaluated factors, as in previous years, include internet and communications provision, speed of business start-up, access to scientific and technical resources, and electricity supply and cost. Notably, in 2025, entrepreneurs also positively assessed the impact of municipalities on business development in their territories, which had previously been rated as moderately negative.

Examining the Turība Business Index across different company groups shows that companies with local and foreign capital are relatively more positive about Latvia’s business environment (-3), whereas construction companies (-26) and companies in Latgale rated it the lowest. In 2024, the lowest ratings were given by companies in Zemgale.

The Turība Business Index study for 2025 was conducted by Turība University in collaboration with the market and public opinion research center SKDS. A total of 750 entrepreneurs expressed their opinions on institutional and informational factors, legal environment, social, cultural, and demographic factors, monetary, technological, and infrastructure factors, fiscal factors, and other elements such as fair competition and processes for starting and closing businesses.

The study aims to strengthen the connection between the business environment and industry education, identify the main challenges and advantages of the business environment, and encourage prospective entrepreneurs to develop a deeper interest in factors influencing business. The higher the value of the index assessing the state of Latvia’s business environment, the lower the shadow economy. The index is calculated mathematically from 16 sub-indices representing different aspects of the business environment. The Turība Business Index ranges from -100 points (if all entrepreneurs rate Latvia’s business environment as very poor) to +100 points (if all rate it as very good).