VILNIUS, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has lowered its growth forecast for Lithuania's economy to 2.7 percent for 2025, down from 2.9 percent projected in September, the Baltic News Service (BNS) reported Tuesday.
The forecast for 2026 was also revised downward, from 3.4 percent to 2.9 percent.
Despite the downgrade, the IMF and Lithuania's central bank said the country's economy remains on a strong growth path.
"Although the negative impact of global trade tariffs is gradually intensifying, Lithuania remains resilient to these trends. Our economy is among the fastest-growing in the European Union," said Gediminas Simkus, chairman of the board of the Bank of Lithuania. "However, we must continue strengthening our financial and capital markets so that businesses have greater opportunities to invest and boost productivity."
The IMF also raised the country's inflation forecasts, expecting average annual inflation to reach 3.6 percent in 2025, up from 3.2 percent in September, and 3.1 percent in 2026, compared with the previous estimate of 2.7 percent.
Meanwhile, the IMF left its unemployment projections unchanged, anticipating a rate of 6.6 percent this year and 6.1 percent next year.
The updated figures were released Tuesday in the IMF's latest World Economic Outlook report. ■
