Off the wire
• Russia condemns terrorist attacks in Iraq  • Fitch put Belarus short-term rating at "B" with stable outlook  • Climate adaptation activities insufficient in developing cities: study  • China's panda pair to leave for ROK  • SGC countries vow to promote Southern Gas Corridor project  • Six Al-Shabaab suspects arrested over twin blasts in Somalia  • Swedish defense deal with NATO should apply in wartime: gov't  • Mainland's Taiwan affairs chief meets business leaders  • BRICS countries stress right to development as core to 2030 Agenda  • Algeria, IAEA discuss nuclear energy cooperation  
You are here: 　 Home

Lithuania's economy growth revised downwards

Xinhua, March 1, 2016 Adjust font size:

Lithuania's revised gross domestic product (GDP) figures showed that the country's economy grew by 1.6 percent last year compared to 2014, one percentage point less than was announced in preliminary estimates, Statistics Lithuania said on Monday.

It is the slowest the Lithuanian economy has advanced in five years. Revised statistical data showed that Lithuanian GDP advanced by 1.9 percent during the last quarter of 2015.

In 2015, Lithuania's GDP at current prices stood at 37.19 billion euros (40.43 billion U.S. dollars).

Meanwhile, the European Commission (EC) in its separate economic analysis presented in Vilnius on Monday pointed to numerous worrying trends in Lithuania's economy which pose a threat to mid and long-term growth, such as the deteriorating demographic situation and sluggish investment, the commission pointed out.

The country's labor market is in difficulty due to a shrinking labor force, the EC said.

The main drivers of the country's population decline are low fertility rates, overall poor health outcomes, and significant net emigration, the commission reported.

The Lithuanian economy showed a remarkable recovery after a major recession, with one of the sharpest declines in real GDP across the EU in 2009, the commission noted in its report. On average, real GDP grew at 4.1 percent over the period 2011-2014. However, previous growth rates "cannot be taken for granted," the EC said. For example, in 2015, Lithuania's impressive GDP growth was mostly due to declining exports to Russia.

The commission expects Lithuanian GDP to rebound to 2.9 percent in 2016 and 3.4 percent in 2017. Endit