Euro adoption

A social media campaign in Lithuania is calling for a three-day boycott of the country's supermarkets on May 10-12. A year and a half since Lithuania adopted the euro, consumers are outraged by unjustifiable price hikes.

The price of services in Lithuania grew more than in any other European Union country last year, increasing over 5%.

This month, the Maxima retail chain performed a double independent price comparison for some of the most popular products sold in 14 different European countries, the company said.

According to Gitanas Nausėda, the advisor of the president of SEB Bank, 2015 wasn't a very special year for Lithuania, though, considering Lithuania's GDP growth, it would be wrong to call it a stagnant year as well.

Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius says the euro introduction, power interconnections with Poland and Sweden, and reforming the Labour Code are Lithuania's three biggest achievements of 2015. He also reviews the country's future plans for 2016 on TV programme Alfa Savaitė.

The introduction of the euro at the beginning of 2015 has had a significant economic impact on Lithuania, its citizens and businesses, according to the Bank of Lithuania (LB).

Nearly a year has passed since the adoption of the euro, but nearly LTL 525 million (€152 million) in cash still remains unexchanged by Lithuanians.

Lithuanian consumers and businesses saved some €40 million due to lower interest rates after the adoption of the euro a year ago, economists at the Bank of Lithuania say. Costs were also cut on currency exchange and due to lower rates on international money transfers.

It has been almost a year since Lithuania has abandoned its national currency for the euro, but many Lithuanians still cling to the litas. A recent survey shows that two out of three Lithuanian shoppers would prefer to see prices indicated in both currencies, the litas and the euro, TV3 television r...

As many as 65 percent of Lithuanians, most of them younger people (aged 15-34 years), say they are already used to changes after the euro adoption, the latest survey for September has shown. However, compared to February's survey, considerably more respondents believe that prices of goods and servic...

Introducing the Government's annual activity report for 2014 at the Seimas, parliament, Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius started with the mention of the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal project, the adoption of the euro and augmentation of Lithuania's defence capabilities.

A smooth adoption of the euro in Lithuania enabled the country not only to improve its international credit ratings but also to reduce borrowing costs, government-run euro.lt website reports.

A telephone poll conducted by the company Provident Finansai revealed that the introduction of the euro did not change habits of personal financial management of many Lithuanians with lower income.

Some 68 percent of Lithuanians were in favour of the euro in mid-February, up by 8 percent from December, the latest poll commissioned by the central Bank of Lithuania has shown.

In January the prices of consumer goods and services declined by 1.5% in annual terms and by 1.3% in monthly terms. This was the biggest annual deflation since 2003. Average annual inflation was at 0%.

Lithuania's statistics office says that euro adoption could have been among the reasons behind a rise in service prices at the start of this year, but adds that the changeover had no impact on prices of goods.

Lithuanian minister of finance sees no reasons to panic over a possible decline in trade or stalling of economic development after the country's adoption of the euro.

Nearly two-thirds of the Lithuanians are positive about the euro, which the country adopted as its currency this year, the recent Eurobarometer survey has shown.

The number of attempts to pay with fake euro banknotes in Lithuania, which joined the eurozone almost a month ago, is on the decline, the central bank's governor said on Thursday.

In December 2014 only every third Lithuanian claimed that the situation in the country has been improving. Compared with November 2014, the number of optimists decreased by 6 percent. According to sociologist and lecturer of Vilnius University, Professor Romas Lazutka, the outburst of pessimism at t...