Last week, the top news in Lithuania were about the country’s economic outlook in 2022 and raising non-taxable income threshold to 540 euros.
Lithuania’s central bank sets up centre for financial market development
The central Bank of Lithuania announced on Monday, May 16, it has set up a specialised Centre for Financial Market Development to promote continuous successful growth of the country’s financial market. The centre will look for ways to strengthen the existing financial market participants and attract new ones, promote sustainable FinTech development, implement capital market development measures. The Bank of Lithuania’s Board Chairman Gediminas Šimkus says the goal is to boost the growth of the entire financial sector by increasing competition, access to services and strengthening the capital market, thereby creating high added value for our citizens, businesses and the country’s economy in general.
Klaipeda LNG terminal capacity to be reserved for more than 5 years
LNG importers will be able to reserve the Klaipeda-based LNG terminal’s capacity for more than five years after Lithuania’s, energy watchdog, the National Energy Regulatory Council (SERC) on Monday, May 16, backed the changes to the existing rules, proposed by the terminal’s operator Klaipėdos Nafta (Klaipėda Oil, KN). The amendments will allow the terminal’s users to reserve long-term (for at least five gas years) and annual capacity, as well as the spot market’s LNG regasification capacity allocated during the current gas year.
Long lines of trucks form at Lithuania-Belarus border again
Long lines of vehicles formed at Lithuania’s border Belarus on Monday, May 16, with more than 200 vehicles queuing up at many checkpoints each and waiting times exceeding three days in some places. Information from the Lithuanian Border Crossing Infrastructure Directorate as of Monday morning showed 275 trucks waiting at the Medininkai border checkpoint, 258 at Šalčininkai, 200 at Lavoriškes, and 80 at Raigardas. Eleven trucks were waiting at the Kybartai checkpoint to cross into Russia’s Kaliningrad region. According to information from Belarus’ State Border Committee, there were over 120 trucks at Benyakoni, 140 at Privalka and more than 60 at Kotlovka. There no queues at Kamenny Loh and Vidzy.
EU commission trims Lithuania’s 2022 GDP growth forecast
The European Commission has lowered Lithuania’s GDP growth forecast for 2022 to 1.7 percent, from 3.4 percent projected last winter. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and associated geopolitical tensions and trade disruptions are having a negative impact on the Lithuanian economy, the European Commission Representation in Lithuania said on Monday, May 16. Lithuania’s GDP growth will be adversely affected by slowing consumption growth due to high inflation, but it will remain relatively strong thanks to accumulated savings and government support measures. Growth will also be underpinned by rising EU investment in the country, it said. The EU executive body expects Lithuania’s economic growth to accelerate to 2.6 percent in 2023.
Lithuanian MPs propose civil union as compromise on same-sex partnership
A group of Lithuanian MPs, whose first attempt to get same-sex relationship recognized in law failed a year ago, have drafted a bill that would allow couples to enter into a civil union instead of the previously proposed partnership. The initiators described the new bill on Tuesday, May 17, as a compromise aimed at securing broader support for the recognition of gender-neutral civil relationship. Vytautas Mitalas, head of the Freedom Union’s political group, admitted that the new bill differs from the liberal party’s idea of what a partnership institute should look like, but said it is a compromise to muster enough votes to move forward. The new draft proposes scrapping the definition of partnership in the «Family Book» of the Civil Code and calling the newly proposed institution a civil union.
PM hails Sweden’s decision to join NATO as ‘great historic moment’
Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė on Tuesday, May 17, welcomed the Swedish government’s decision to apply for NATO membership, calling it a «great historic moment». Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said earlier on Monday that Stockholm will apply for NATO membership together with Helsinki. The Scandinavian countries’ decision was prompted by the changed security situation in the region due to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Read also: BNN ANALYSES | NATO Nordic expansion to bolster Lithuania’s security, but new tensions with Russia inevitable
Court orders 2 firms to repay state over 4 million euros for rapid COVID-19 test
The Lithuanian Court of Appeal ordered two companies to return more than 4 million euros to the state which overpaid them for rapid COVID-19 tests, the Prosecutor General’s Office said on Tuesday, May 17. The Court of Appeal upheld an appeal filed by a prosecutor against Vilnius Regional Court’s ruling of last February. A procurement contract between the National Public Health Surveillance Laboratory (NPHL) and Profarma, and a related contract between the latter company and Bona Diagnosis has been contested. The Court of Appeal also ordered Profarma and Bona Diagnosis to pay 4,142,600 euros plus 5 percent annual interest to the state, according to the Prosecutor General’s Office. Last January, the office asked Vilnius Regional Court to declare null and void the NPHL’s contract on the acquisition of more than 500,000 COVID-19 EXPRESS rapid tests for over 6 million euros in total and to order them.
Lithuania raises non-taxable income threshold to 540 euros
The Lithuanian parliament on Wednesday, May 18, voted to raise the non-taxable income threshold by 80 euros to 540 euros as of July, meaning an increase in income for the lowest earners whose annual income does not exceed the national average. The amendments to the Law on Personal Income Tax were passed with 93 votes in favour, none against and eight abstentions. The increase in the income threshold will bring an extra 16 euros a month to people earning the minimum wage and 12 euros to those getting a net monthly salary of 1,000 euros. The measure will cost the state around 103 million euros in lost budget revenue this year. The average monthly salary in Lithuania currently stands at 1,679 euros before tax.
Lithuanian parliament revises 2022 budget
The Lithuanian parliament on Thursday, May 19, voted in favour of revising the 2020 state budget for the second time this year. The amendments were passed with 68 votes in favour, none against and 23 abstentions, and have yet to be signed into law by President Gitanas Nausėda. Finance Minister Gintarė Skaistė said the revised budget includes measures to cushion the effects of soaring inflation. This year’s budget spending is being raised by around 1.47 billion euros, which will result in the deficit widening to 4.9 percent of GDP, from the earlier projected 3.3 percent. Some 973 million euros will be spent on anti-inflationary measures, including 570 million euros to subsidize gas and electricity prices for households. The revised budget earmarks 370 million euros for Ukrainian refugees, with the bulk of the money to go towards their social protection. The 2022 state budget was first revised earlier this year to allocate extra funding for national defence.
Lithuania reports 134 new COVID-19 cases, no deaths
Lithuania has recorded 134 new coronavirus infections and no deaths from COVID-19 over the past 24 hours, official statistics showed on Friday, May 20. Some 118 of the new cases were primary and 16 were secondary. The number of COVID-19 patients in hospitals currently stands at 91, including 12 ICU cases. The 14-day primary infection rate has edged down to 71.2 cases per 100,000 people, with the seven-day percentage of positive tests at 10 percent. Some 69.8 percent of the Lithuanian population have received at least one coronavirus vaccine jab.
Week in Lithuania: EU commission cuts Lithuania’s 2022 GDP growth forecast, Lithuania raises non-taxable income to 540 euros
