Swedbank projects that Lithuania could adopt euro in 2015

The bank’s experts assume that an earlier date would not be feasible as the country would not meet the Maastricht inflation criterion.

“Unfortunately, the Maastricht inflation criterion is likely to be 2.5 percent early next year. It is likely that the Maastricht criterion will not to be met. The probability of euro adoption in the beginning of 2014 is low,” Swedbank’s chief economist Nerijus Mačiulis said at the presentation of the bank’s latest economic projections on Tuesday.

Swedbank expects the inflation rate in Lithuania to reach 2.8 percent this year before going up to 3 percent next year.

“However, considering our global trends projections, it seems that the probability to comply with all Maastricht criteria will be higher in 2013,” he said.

Early this year, the bank projected that Lithuania still had a chance to adopt the euro in 2014 although risks of not meeting the Maastricht inflation criterion had increased.