A Seimas resolution on the establishment of a state development bank and the participation of the state in the capital of credit institutions was adopted on Friday in a vote of 67 to 14 with 13 abstentions.
Moreover, the government was authorized to open consultations, by September, with the European Commission on technical support for the establishment of the state development bank. Also, the parliament recognized the establishment of the bank as a key economic project of the state.
“We are shifting away from the policy that effectively prohibits active economic activities of the state and … we continue to relax the state’s economic operations. We do not do that because of some strange ideological motives or a wish to look back to the past. We are being absolutely practical, we see the pros and cons of market functioning and the need for the state’s pressure where necessary,” Tomas Tomilinas on the ruling Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union (LFGU) said.
Ramunas Karbauskis, LFGU leader, does not rule out that the state development bank could be created on the basis of the branch network of Lietuvos Pastas (Lithuanian Post), the state postal operator.
Finance Minister Vilius Sapoka said last week that he was inclined to support the creation of such a bank through the consolidation of the state-owned credit guarantee agency INVEGA, the Public Investment Development Agency and the Agricultural Loan Guarantee Fund, but he opposed the state's participation in the retail banking business.
President Gitanas Nauseda has also spoken in favor of establishing a state-owned bank.