CORPORATE
Lithuanian Free Market Institute
CORPORATE
Lithuania first in world to regulate peer to business lending
Lithuania is soon to become the first country in the world to regulate lending between enterprises and their customers. “There are many countries which have similar borrowing alternatives, but they do not have regulation. We […]
CORPORATE
‘Taxpayers’ money wasted’ as Lithuania’s public sector wage bill climbs to €1bn
The Parliamentary Audit Committee has calculated that the government sector last year took a tenth of taxpayers’ money, almost €1 billion – just for salaries. “The trends are bad. The numbers are increasing in all […]
CORPORATE
Five taxing questions on Lithuania’s proposed VAT cuts
With about six months left to the next general election, cutting taxes is all the rage in the Lithuanian parliament. MPs have submitted several bills suggesting cutting value-added tax (VAT). Some proposals have been discussed more extensively than others, but there is still no clear agreement on a number of points concerning the cuts. […]
CORPORATE
Lithuania ranked 19th in world for economic freedom
Lithuania has been ranked 19th in the Economic Freedom of the World index ahead of the other Baltic States but well behind other developed counties, according to a US research institute. […]
Economy
Lithuanian Prime Minister supports controversial VAT cut proposal
The currently existing value-added tax (VAT) of 21 percent can stand to be reduced, believes Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius. […]
CORPORATE
Red tape for foreign workers killing Lithuania’s competitiveness
Lithuania’s work visa system for foreigners has become so complicated and time-consuming that it is causing shortages of skilled labour across the economy. […]
CORPORATE
Kaunas mayor voted best in Lithuania
Visvaldas Matijošaitis has won Lithuania’s best mayor award. The elections were organised for the eighth consecutive year. The mayor of Klaipėda, Vytautas Grubliauskas came in second place with Vilnius mayor Remigijus Šimašius in third. […]
Economy
Government budget plans for 2016 divide experts
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. […]
Economy
Has Lithuania‘s economy caught up with those of Greece and Portugal?
Danish economist Morten Hansen and Romas Lazutka, professor at Vilnius University, argue that Lithuania‘s economy has caught caught up with those of Greece and Portugal. The two scholars and Žilvinas Šilėnas, the president of the Lithuanian Free Market Institute, provide different explanations why. […]
Economy
Lithuanian government okays minimum wage increase to EUR 325
The Lithuanian government has given its approval to a proposal to increase the minimum wage by 25 euros, to 325 euros, from July. […]
Economy
Lithuania should put off minimum wage hike amid worsening economic outlook, analyst says
Lithuania’s authorities should postpone plans for a minimum wage hike after the central bank on Friday cut its GDP growth forecast for this year, a senior expert at the Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LLRI) said. […]
Politics
Liberal MP to face the incumbent in Vilnius mayor run-offs
Liberal MP Remigijus Šimašius and incumbent Mayor Artūras Zuokas will face one another in the run-off election for Vilnius mayor, the Central Electoral Commission said on Monday. […]
Economy
Lithuania’s grocer Maxima to cut prices ahead of expected competition from Germany’s Lidl
The decision by Maxima LT, Lithuania’s largest retailer that has been slapped with a 16.9-million-euro fine for anti-trust violations, to lower prices for over 1,000 products may have a positive effect on the economy, if it leads to increased competition among retail chains, Nerijus Mačiulis, the chief economist at Swedbank, said on Tuesday. […]
Economy
Klapėda ranked Lithuania’s most economically free town
The Lithuanian port city of Klaipėda has been ranked as Lithuania’s number-one municipality in terms of economic freedom. The town gets the top spot in annual rankings for the fourth consecutive year. […]
Opinion
Opinion: Shale gas revolution. Will Lithuania be like US or Zambia?
Less than a decade ago many people were talking about how we will be running out of oil soon. Many politicians and experts were constantly spouting “peak oil”. Serious faces in reputable conferences were asserting that it was obvious that the world production of oil had peaked and would be decreasing. The few dissenters were called naive or “market fundamentalists”. […]