Lithuanian PM sees no signs of crisis

  • 2017-06-21
  • LETA/TBT Staff

VILNIUS - Lithuanian Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis said on Wednesday that he saw no signs of crisis after Ramunas Karbauskis, chairman of the ruling Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union (LFGU), mentioned earlier in the day that another global economic crisis might be on the way.

"Currently we have a growing economy and a growing GDP. We have growing wages in the global sector and some small growth in the public sector, too. We have investments and jobs are being created," Skvernelis told reporters after the Cabinet's meeting.

"I can't say today that an economic crisis is approaching. Neither Lithuanian nor EU nor global indicators give grounds for such assumptions, at least for now," he added.

According to the 15min.lt news website, Karbauskis said during Wednesday's meeting of the parliament's Committee on Culture that the ruling parties were giving up plans to untie funding for the Culture Ministry from alcohol and tobacco excise revenue collection because "we may soon face another global economic crisis".

At the opposition's initiative, the committee discussed the government's plans to reduce funding for culture in order to form a "pool for changes".

It was reported earlier that the government had suggested that all ministries, except for the Defense Ministry, cut their 2018 budgets by 616 million euros each and put the money into a common "pool for changes".