Finance

Lithuanians’ average savings in their bank accounts would allow them to survive for six months without receiving wages, according to a Nordea bank economist.

Lowering the value-added tax (VAT) rate for all goods and services would be preferable to exemptions on select products, like food, Lithuania's Finance Minister Rimantas Šadžius.

The Finance Minister says Lithuanians will not have to declare their foreign and electronic bank accounts to tax authorities this spring, following an outcry from online account holders about vague and incomplete instructions.

Šiaulių bankas was rated as the best bank in Lithuania in 2015 by the international business and financial magazine Global Finance which has been listing the best banks of the Central and Eastern European growing markets for 23 years.

Lithuania's ruling coalition has postponed a decision on cutting value-added tax (VAT) on basic food products until after the Finance Ministry estimates the measure's impact of public finances.

Lithuania's central government and municipalities collected €1.132 billion in taxes over January-February 2016, exceeding the target by €25.1 million, or 2.3%, the Finance Ministry said.

Sweden's banking group SEB is considering to introduce negative interest rates on deposits held by large business clients in the Baltic States, vz.lt reports.

A growing number of self-employed people in Lithuania indicates the spread of the spirit of entrepreneurship, say economists.

The Bank of Lithuania has suggested amendments that would ensure that businesspeople seeking loans from commercial banks would not have to use their personal assets as collateral in all cases. Other proposed measures would also ensure that businesspeople taking out loans wouldn't take on too much de...

Profit margins of major banks in Lithuania have fallen by about one fifth in 2015, a result of one-off factors like Lithuania's accession to the euro zone and quantitative easing policies that have cut interest rates, Verslo Žinios reports.

The Bank of Lithuania has proposed regulations for the insurance investment market, aimed at strengthening consumer protection and capping how much insurance companies can charge for asset management.

The average wage in Latvia has reached €603 after tax in 2015, growing 7.6% from the year before.

Three instant credit companies have been sanctioned by the Bank of Lithuania for failing to properly vet their clients' credit worthiness.

The average Lithuanian’s monthly pay packet grew by 5.9% in the final quarter of 2015, with a 4.6% rise in the public sector but a larger 6.7% rise in wages in the private sector.

The number of Lithuanians being able to buy property purely in cash has been steadily multiplying in the last few years – in fact it is hard to imagine how many Lithuanians have been buying a home or apartment using cash - but such luxurious purchases may now have serious consequences.

Lithuania’s Financial Crime Investigation Service is working with Spanish authorities investigating possible money laundering at the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China branch in Madrid.

Bank Kapitalbank managed by Lithuanian and Latvian investors in the Rostov region of Russia have submitted a bankruptcy notice to the Arbitration Court. However, the application was adjourned until mid-March.

The government has given the go-ahead for Lithuanian tax authorities to start scrutinising Lithuanians' bank accounts for tax evasion and unaccountable sources of income as the State Tax Inspectorate also announced all citizens had until the end of June this year to declare all gifts and undeclared ...