Swedbank revises up Lithuanian economic growth projections

Swedish commercial bank Swedbank increased Lithuania's GDP growth forecast for 2017 and 2018 by 0.2 percent each year to 3 percent and 2.7 percent, the bank announced in its fresh macroeconomic report published on Thursday.

According to the report, improvement of economic trends and positive sentiments is being observed in nearly all main global markets, giving ground to optimism in the near term.

"Improved economic trends in Western export markets, as well as diminishing other negative factors will lead to faster Lithuanian GDP growth," Nerijus Maciulis, chief economist at Swedbank Lithuania, said in the bank's statement.

In January, compared to the same month last year, Lithuanian exports increased by one fifth, Swedbank's data show.

"We forecast that the world's GDP growth this year will be higher than the ten recent years' average; for the first time after 2008-2009 crisis, we observe all global economies moving in the right direction," Maciulis noted.

However, he said that long term projections are not clear, given that multiple global economic and political problems remain unsolved. According to Maciulis, upcoming elections in Europe, threat of increased protectionism and trade barriers may affect current positive global economic trends.

"While enjoying cyclical improvement of the economy and faster growth, it is necessary to use this period for implementing reforms and getting ready for harder times," Swedbank's chief economist underlined.

Lithuania's Ministry of Finance expects the Baltic country's economy to grow by 2.7 percent this year and 2.6 percent in 2018.

Bank of Lithuania, the country's central bank, forecasts 2.6 and 2.8 GDP growth for 2017 and 2018 respectively. Endit