Lithuanian ministries start working on plan to cope with Russian sanctions

Economy Minister Evaldas Gustas, who is standing in for Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius while the latter is on vacation, said after a government meeting on Monday that it was decided to instruct ministries and other institutions to work out an action plan for the period of one year, while Russian sanctions are in effect.

“We took a protocol decision with certain instructions. All relevant institutions have to propose new measures that will be in place during the period of economic sanctions to the Economy Ministry, which has to summarize all those measures and submit an action plan to the Cabinet for approval,” Gustas told reporters.

“The Finance Ministry, together with the Ministries of Agriculture and Transport, has been instructed to assess possible economic consequences and losses due to Russia’s sanctions and prepare a request for compensation of possible losses,” he said.

The Economy Ministry is to present such a summarized action plan to the Cabinet next week, the minister added.

“The Foreign Ministry has been instructed to support the initiative of some European countries to convene an extraordinary sitting of the [EU] Agriculture Council and join the initiative to bring forward the date of the General Affairs Council’s meeting,” Gustas said.

“The Customs Department has been asked to provide information on bilateral trade with Russia, because the department receives these data much more earlier than Statistics Lithuania does and this will help react to the situation more promptly,” he said.

Lithuania could also seek trade agreements with third countries in a bid to find markets for its products, Gustas said.

Agriculture Minister Virginija Baltraitienė told reporters on Monday that as part of efforts to help producers, the authorities are planning to make intervention purchases. Lithuania would products with long shelf lives and sell them later.

Baltraitienė said that this fall will be the most difficult period for Lithuanian businesses. If the authorities manage to help them though this period, the situation will then stabilize, she said.

Gustas said that the Finance Ministry is to submit preliminary estimates as to revenue losses due to the sanctions next week and release its updated economic forecasts in early September.