Finnish investment in Lithuania leads in job creation

However, the direct investments made by Finland in 2014 generated the largest amount, at 20 per cent, of Lithuania’s new jobs created by direct foreign investments. In 2012, there were approximately 170 Finnish companies altogether in Lithuania, employing over 10,200 people. Most of the investment projects launched by Finns have been oriented towards the production industry, but there are also business services and service centers among them.

Over the past five years, Finns have launched 15 investment projects in Lithuania, which constitutes almost a fifth of all Finnish undertakings within EU-countries in Central and Eastern Europe during the time frame.

As much as 40 per cent of Lithuania’s Finnish-based investment projects have been located in Kaunas, which has one of Lithuania’s seven special economic zones.

Companies enjoy certain tax reliefs within the special economic zones, such as zero per cent corporate taxes for the first six years. Furthermore, companies gain a 50 percent discount on corporate taxes for the decade after that.

“The taxation practice in Lithuania is beneficial to many companies also outside our special economic zones. For instance, the corporate tax in Lithuania is 15 percent–five percentage points lower than the corporate tax in Finland. On top of this, our value-added tax is three percentage points lower than in Finland–21 percent”, says Mantas Katinas, General Manager of Invest Lithuania.

Read full article in Finnish at talouselama.fi