Economy
Lithuanians still hold €152 million in Litas a year after adoption of Euro
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. […]
Month: December 2015
Economy
Euro adoption helped Lithuanians save €40m
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. […]
Society
Kaunas University of Technology to acquire ISM University of Management and Economics
The Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) and the ISM University of Management and Economics (ISM) in Vilnius will soon become partners when KTU acquires a controlling share of ISM’s stocks. The deal will be completed as soon as KTU receives the approval of the Competition Council. […]
Politics
Interior minister briefed on disloyal officers at Public Security Service
Interior Minister Saulius Skvernelis says he has been informed about how many employees in the Public Security Service were suspected of disloyalty to Lithuania. […]
Economy
Almost 1,300 government positions face axe under new plan
The Lithuanian government announced on Monday that it would scrap 1,290 positions in government agencies from April of next year. […]
Politics
National Land Service chief on unpaid leave after allegations of drunk driving
Daiva Gineikaitė, head of the National Land Service (NZT) under the Ministry of Agriculture, has been temporarily placed on unpaid leave pending the results of an investigation into whether or not she was driving under the influence of alcohol when she caused a traffic accident in Kaunas, Lithuania’s second-largest city. The decision was made after her meeting with Agriculture Minister Virginija Baltraitienė on Monday. […]
Defence
Lithuanian defense ministry’s new emergency survival guide now has colourful pictures
At the beginning of the year, Lithuania’s Ministry of National Defence released a booklet for civilians and military personnel alike called Prepare to Survive Emergencies and War with tips on surviving hostile invasions and other calamities. Now, the ministry has released an updated version with new illustrations by Lithuanian illustrator and animator Ilja Bereznickas that contrast with the book’s serious nature. […]
Culture
Monument cast from Litas coins commemorates first central banker
A monument to the first manager of the Bank of Lithuania, Vladas Jurgutis, has been unveiled near the headquarters of the Bank of Lithuania. […]
Economy
President signs Lithuania’s 2016 budget into law
President Dalia Grybauskaitė signed the 2016 government budget on Monday. […]
Economy
Passenger numbers at Vilnius airport hit record level in 2015
Passenger numbers increased by 13% at Vilnius Airport in 2015 to a record three million travellers – the best performance in the history of the airport. […]
Society
Foreign nationals make up under 1% of Lithuania’s population
Foreign citizens accounted for 0.8% of the total population of Lithuania on January 1, 2014. Among them, one eight (0.1% of the total population) were citizens of other member states of the European Union (EU), while the remaining share (0.7%) were non-EU citizens. Most foreigners living in Lithuania were from Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Poland, and Latvia, Eurostat, the statistical office of the EU, reports. […]
Defence
Volunteers may fill all military conscription posts in 2016
Defence Minister Juozas Olekas said that he expects all 3,000 places for compulsory military service to be filled by volunteers next year. […]
Politics
Lithuania’s interior minister enjoys sudden surge in popularity
Three politicians are in a close battle for the first spot in popularity ratings, a survey by the market and opinion research centre Vilmorus shows. President Dalia Grybauskaitė remains Lithuania’s most popular politician with Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius her runner-up. Saulius Skvernelis, the Minister of the Interior, is a close third. […]
Opinion
Opinion: Why Russia needs Lithuania
Lithuania is a small country in comparison to Russia. So why does the Kremlin pay Lithuania a disproportionate amount of its attention? One reason is that it needs weak enemies that it can divert its people’s attention to. There was a time when Russian polls indicated that they saw Lithuania as their number one enemy. Later it was Georgia and Ukraine. […]
Economy
Companies struggle to find German speaking employees in Lithuania
As German investment and tourism booms in Lithuania, companies are looking for employees who speak German. Unfortunately, the language does not seem to be very popular with Lithuanian students. […]
Society
Customs officer makes Christmas decorations using cardboard from smugglers’ seized contraband boxes
Lithuanian Customs officers chose an unconventional but tongue-in-cheek solution for decorating the windows of the Customs Department this holiday season. The small, ornamental Christmas town decorating their windows on Gediminas Avenue in Vilnius was made of cardboard boxes that had contained illegal contraband tobacco seized from smugglers. […]
Economy
Big cities and coastal resorts top entrepreneur rankings
Entrepreneurial activity is booming in Lithuania’s three biggest cities – Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda – and the coastal resorts of Neringa and Palanga, according to the 2015 Entrepreneurship Map from the Lithuanian Central Credit Union (LCKU). […]
European Union
Georgia and Ukraine get EC’s go-ahead for visa-free travel
Georgia and Ukraine meet all benchmarks to be granted visa-free travel to the European Union, according to a report of the European Commission. Georgians and Ukrainians might be able to travel to the Schengen zone without visas as soon as next year. […]
Society
Over 100,000 emigrants have returned to Lithuania over the past decade
On International Migrants Day (18 December), Statistics Lithuania announced that, over the last decade, 126,000 new residents immigrated into Lithuania while 438,500 emigrated. From 2005 to 2014, the percentage of emigrants of ages 20-39 grew from 51.9 to 59.2 percent. In 2014, as many as 82 percent of working-age people had not worked for a year or longer before leaving the country. […]
Economy
Lithuania’s biggest consumer credit company sanctioned for ‘irresponsible lending’
4finance, the leading consumer credit company in Lithuania, has had its licence revoked by the Bank of Lithuania following repeated violations. […]