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Lithuanian economic growth accelerates to 2.3 pct in 2016

Xinhua, January 31, 2017 Adjust font size:

The Lithuanian economic growth accelerated to 2.3 percent year on year in 2016, official data revealed on Monday.

The acceleration came as the Baltic economy grew robust in the fourth quarter of 2016, with gross domestic product expanding by 2.7 percent year on year, according to Statistics Lithuania.

In 2015, the Lithuanian economy rose 1.7 percent.

The country's economists reacted with a positive note.

"Growth last year was mostly driven by household consumption as retail trade increased by 6.9 percent, with acceleration towards the end of the year," Laura Galdikiene, senior economist for Swedbank, commented in a note.

She said investment have also picked up towards the end of last year.

Darius Imbrasas, senior economist for Bank of Lithuania, said recovery in construction, which will be supported by recovery in utilization of EU funding, and gradually improving conditions of trade partners "will add to faster economic growth in 2017".

Bank of Lithuania expects the country's economy to grow by 2.4 percent in 2017. Endit