"In the last 23 years, Lithuania’s GDP per capita grew from below 40 percent to close to 90 percent of the European Union average. And in the last ten years – the decade of the euro – income convergence only accelerated," Nausėda said when addressing the annual economics conference of the Bank of Lithuania on Monday.
The president highlighted that Lithuania was able to cope with the economic challenges posed by the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic without major economic losses, unlike in 2009.
"The euro now protects us against global financial turmoil. While the crisis of 2009, before the adoption of the common currency, resulted in a significant drop in our economy, by 2020, we were much better prepared," he said.
According to President Nausėda, shielded by the euro area and able to rely on a countercyclical fiscal policy, Lithuania managed to escape the pandemic crisis with no GDP contraction.
"And now we demonstrate the strongest performance in the whole region," he stated.
On Monday, the Bank of Lithuania holds its annual economics conference dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the euro introduction in Lithuania. The event focussing on the pillars of resilience to global geopolitical changes takes place at the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania in Vilnius.
Key speakers in this year’s conference include European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, Finance Minister Rimantas Šadžius and Andriy Pyshnyyi, governor of the National Bank of Ukraine.
Lithuania adopted the euro on 1 January 2015.