Some 2,000 people lose job every day because of lockdown

Lithuania could also take more economic stimulus measures and they should be accessible faster, they say.

Paulius Kuncinas, a former senior analyst from Oxford Business Group, says job losses might double soon.

"Based on the information I have managed to receive from the SoDra (social insurance fund), we are losing around 2,000 jobs. I think we'll have 2-3 times more in a week," Kuncinas told a conference today.

Experts also believe Lithuania's response to the coronavirus is conservative and delayed. Simonas Gustainis, managing partner at private capital fund manager BaltCap, says Lithuania is only applying several measures that could be put in place during the crisis time.

"When looking into states' promises, we see that Lithuania is in a modest regime, in terms of its scope and attitude. We see that all instruments are from the EU support distribution era when those measures have to do with risk distribution and not providing liquidity," Gustainis said.

Klaudijus Maniokas, a public administration expert, says Lithuania has learnt some lessons from the 2008-2009 crisis, and some of them have not been learnt.

"One thing is that the initial reaction, when they started to plan actions, was right. But we have been stuck so far with the same products and the same procedures," Maniokas said.

In March, the Lithuanian government endorsed an unprecedented economic stimulus package and it stipulates the allocations of 1 billion euros for economic stimulation, and also spending 0.5 billion on healthcare, preserving jobs and ensuring business liquidity each. Last week, the government announced its decision to double its business liquidity assistance to 1 billion euros.

The Pandemic Economic Group is an informal forum of experts who generalize and analyze information on pandemic challenges to the economy, provide information and advice on possible measures as Lithuania is facing COVID-19-caused economic downturn.