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SEB bank revises up Lithuania's GDP growth forecast for 2017

Xinhua, May 2, 2017 Adjust font size:

Lithuania's SEB bank increased the forecast for the Baltic country's GDP growth for 2017 to 3.2 percent from the previous projection of 2.5 percent, according to the bank's marcoeconomic report published on Tuesday.

The bank also expects Lithuania's economy to expand by 3 percent in 2018.

However, it urged structural reforms without any delay.

"The country's economy has been improving consistently, nevertheless, the country fails to catch up with the Western Europe's living standards at a faster pace; all this points to the need of immediate assistance to the Lithuanian economy," the bank said in the report.

Gitanas Nauseda, chief economist at SEB Lithuania, noted in his presentation of the report that improved eurozone's economy has been the main driver behind the increased Lithuania's industry and other sectors' activity.

According to Nauseda, business-friendly general election outcome in the Netherlands, and "most probably" similar situation in France contributes to the better economic trends in the eurozone.

Meanwhile, Lithuania's economy also benefits from increased investments both in private and EU-funded projects, the expert was quoted as saying in the bank's statement.

In the opinion of Nauseda, regional policy issues are particularly important for Lithuania as the country will enter into the period without generous EU aid as of 2020. Curbing excessive emigration from Lithuania is another priority issue for the country, Nauseda underlined.

The chief economist of SEB Lithuania said that the country should also decide on the future tax policy, including a shift towards a progressive personal income tax.

Lithuanian central bank expects the country's economy to grow by 2.6 and 2.8 percent this and next year respectively, while the Finance Ministry's projections stand at 2.7 and 2.6 percent in 2017 and 2018 respectively.

Last month, Swedbank, another major commercial bank in Lithuania, increased Lithuania's GDP growth forecast for 2017 and 2018 by 0.2 percent each year to 3.0 percent and 2.7 percent respectively. Endit