Vitas Vasiliauskas acknowledges that the “income turning to expenses” continues, although differently from ten years ago.
“I could not say yet that a crisis is here around the corner, but we see, with no doubts, certain slowdown aspects,” he told journalists on Wednesday after attending a sitting of the parliamentary Committee on Budget and Finance, looking into the circumstances of the 2008 crisis.
Vasiliauskas underlined that the Bank of Lithuania‘s assessment of economic assumptions and the Ministry of Finance’s view, “based on which the 2019 budget is being done”, differ.
Vasiliauskas reiterated that “economy goes in cycles” and there was economic downturn up until 2008 after a period of growth.
“Now we see that Lithuania’s economy is growing and even exceeding its potential, and this is were our assessment slightly differs from the Ministry of Finance, as we are more cautious and the Finance Ministry is slightly more optimistic. With no doubt, we will face slowdown at some point. The question is how much we are prepared for that,” Vasiliauskas said.
The Bank of Lithuania is due to submit its conclusion on the 2019 budget next week.