State budget

The Lithuanian government proposes to raise the minimum wage from 607 euros to 642 euros before tax and increase the monthly child benefit from 60 euros to 70 euros next year.

Following around 4 hours of discussions, the Seimas of Lithuania on Tuesday adopted the state budget for 2020 with 85 votes in favor, 48 against and three abstentions.

Lithuanian Finance Minister Vilius Sapoka expects that a compromise will be reached on the state's 2020 budget as the bill comes up for a second debate in the parliament on Tuesday.

Lithuanian Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis says his Cabinet's updated 2020 state budget plan will be balanced to comply with fiscal discipline rules after the parliament has rejected a part of the government's tax proposals.

The revenue and expenditure of Lithuania's 2020 state budget, including EU and other international support, should grow, and the planned budget deficit will be slightly lower than planned this year.

A faster increase in pensions, proposed by Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, will cost the state an estimated 65 million euros in the next two years.

Lithuania's general government budget balance last year moved into positive territory for the first time in 26 years and Finance Minister Vilius Šapoka says that a budget surplus is possible in the future too.

Parliamentary Speaker Loreta Graužinienė doubts the promises made by Finance Minister Rasa Budbergytė that Lithuania will have a balanced budget in 2017. In Graužinienė's opinion, the government cannot cut the deficit because of the need to increase social benefits. To read this article, try a €5.99...

In an effort to bolster financial stability, the Lithuanian Ministry of Finance intends to submit a deficit-free 2017 budget to the government, says Finance Minister Rasa Budbergytė. To read this article, try a €5.99 monthly subscription by clicking here.

Lithuanian Finance Minister Rimantas Šadžius says that the government could finish the year with extra funds in the state coffers.

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.

Lithuania has been commended by the Eurogroup, the meeting of eurozone's finance ministers, for its efforts to cut budget deficit and rein in public spending, says Finance Minister Rimantas Šadžius.

This January, the national budget and municipal authorities collected 2% (€12.1 million) more tax revenue than planned and 7.1% (€41 million) more than in the same period last year, according to the preliminary data of the Ministry of Finance.

Increased efforts to tackle tax evasion and the black market led to a significant increase in tax revenues for the Lithuanian government in 2015, according to Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius.

The Lithuanian parliament, with the blessing of President Dalia Grybauskaitė, approved a generous government budget for the year 2016 but views of whether such a budget is prudent are mixed.

President Dalia Grybauskaitė signed the 2016 government budget on Monday.

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė says that she is going to sign the 2016 budget, endorsed by parliament last week, into law, although it has been criticised by the European Commission and the National Audit Office.

There are good things in next year's budget, like the increase of national defence budget, but Lithuania will also begin to lose its reputation with international financial institutions and finance markets, Andrius Kubilius, the leader of the opposition in the Seimas (parliament), told Žinių Radijas...