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Roundup: Lithuanian authorities to discuss next year's budget

Xinhua, September 29, 2015 Adjust font size:

Lithuania's public finances deficit is set to stand at 1.3 percent of GDP in nominal terms next year, the country's ministry of finance said on Monday while presenting next year's draft budget.

The proposed budget will be discussed by the ruling coalition and the government and thereafter it will reach the Seimas, Lithuania's Parliament, in mid-October.

"I really hope that necessary compromises will be found during the debates which will unavoidably occur, however, I hope no any unnecessary or risky decisions to be made," Lithuanian Minister of Finance Rimantas Sadzius was quoted as saying by local website vz.lt.

According to the minister, Lithuania's obligations concerning the euro zone and the EU's requirements prompt it to act "cautiously and responsibly."

"We must limit our expenses and try to collect as much as possible revenues," Sadzius stressed.

The country's debt remains close to 40 percent of GDP, which should "cool off all the hotheaded proposals to increase borrowing," he underlined.

The Lithuanian government next year is planning to borrow around 1.6 billion euros (1.8 billion U.S. dollars), or almost half as much as it did this year, with some 1.1 billion euros to be borrowed in the domestic market and another 0.5 billion euros in foreign markets.

"The borrowing needs have been constantly declining as a result of the government's responsible budget policy," Sadzius said in a press release on Monday.

Next year, the budget revenue would decrease by 1.2 percent due to a decline in the amount of EU support that would be used in 2016, the minister said.

The government had not discussed any specific figures on Monday, Sadzius said.

It is expected that the draft budget law will be presented at the parliament on Oct. 17 and adopted by the members of parliament by the end of November or early December.

In a separate development, credit ratings agency Fitch affirmed Lithuania's credit rating at A minus with a stable outlook, the agency said last week. (1 euro = 1.12 U.S. dollars) Endit