Šiaulių bankas forecasts Lithuania’s GDP to grow by 2.3% this year

Šiaulių bankas has published its latest economic forecast, projecting Lithuania’s real gross domestic product (GDP) to grow by 2.3% in 2024 due to the country’s low indebtedness, export diversification and timely EU investments.

The bank has upgraded its GDP projections from the previous 2%. It forecasts GDP growth to stand at 2.9% in 2025.

Šiaulių bankas noted that in the first half of 2024 growth was the highest in the information and communications sector (8%), agriculture (7.3%) and construction (6.7%).

The bank’s economists estimate that average annual inflation will stand at 0.8% in 2024, increasing to 2.6% in 2025 due to more expensive services, excise duties and CO2 component for fuel.

Wage growth is forecast to stand at 9.7% in 2024 and 8.7% in 2025.

The average level of unemployment is projected to stand at 7.7% this year and 7.2% next year.