"We will not meet the price stability criterion either at the end of 2012 or 2013," Rūta Rodzko, director of the Bank of Lithuania's Economics and Financial Stability Service, said at a news conference.
This means that the country will not qualify for eurozone membership either in 2014 or in 2015, she says.
In its latest macroeconomic forecasts released on Monday, the central bank raised its average annual inflation projections to 3.2 percent for this year and to 2.8 percent for next year due to faster growth in prices for food, fuel, and industrial goods.
It noted that a jump in raw materials prices could add as much as 1 percentage point to inflation next year. However, inflation could be lower if a reduced VAT rate on district heating were kept in place.
In order to adopt the single currency, a country must keep its average annual inflation rate within 1.5 percentage points of the average of the three best performing EU countries in terms of price stability. The so-called Maastricht criterion in October stood at 2.9 percent.
Lithuania's bid to join the euro in 2007 was rejected because its inflation exceeded the Maastricht limit.
