Finance Ministry

Lithuania expects its economy to expand by 1.7% next year, following a soft landing in 2023, according to the latest update on the Finance Ministry’s Economic Development Scenario. The same growth was projected by the ministry in September.

Groups of companies in Lithuania pay 20% of the total corporate income tax collected in Lithuania, according to an analysis by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), reports Verslo žinios.

Around 800 thousand Lithuanians would benefit from the Government’s proposed changes to the personal income tax (GPM) and other taxes, leaving some 17,500 self-employed people negatively affected, says the finance minister.

The presidency says law enforcement institutions need a transparent funding model to avoid any political influence on their activities.

Lithuania’s gross domestic product (GDP) is set to shrink by 1% this year, before growing by 2.5% the following year, the Ministry of Finance said on Friday.

Finance Minister Gintarė Skaistė has appointed her adviser Darius Sadeckas to the role of her deputy minister. He took office on Wednesday.

The Lithuanian Finance Ministry has proposed to apply a zero VAT rate on district heating during two more heating seasons.

Lithuania's minimum wage could be raised by about 35 euros to 642 euros as of next January, Social Security and Labor Minister Linas Kukuraitis said on Thursday.

The revenue and expenditure of Lithuania's 2020 state budget, including EU and other international support, should grow, and the planned budget deficit will be slightly lower than planned this year.

Lithuania's Finance Ministry is not changing its outlook and continues to estimate that the country's economy will slow next year, although it still will exceed the EU average.

Fitch Ratings has affirmed Lithuania's long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating (IDR) at "A-" with a positive outlook after positively assessing Lithuania's public finance and economic situation.

Lithuania's state and municipal budgets received 5.344 billion euros in revenue in January-June, 3.4 percent, or 174.1million euros, more than it was planned, the Finance Ministry said.

Lithuanian Finance Minister Vilius Sapoka rejects criticism that the proposed new budgeting principles may undermine the independence of law-enforcement and supervisory bodies, but promises to improve the bill.

Vilius Šapoka, a former director of the Financial Services and Markets Supervision Department at the central Bank of Lithuania, says that he is considering an offer to become the country's next finance minister.

Lithuania's draft 2017 budget projects higher revenue and expenses for next year, but is planned with a lower deficit than this year.