Amid easing worries about the eurozone's problems and improving industrial expectations in Lithuania and other countries, further growth can be cautiously forecast, Vilija Tauraitė says.
"Indicators look really strong at the moment, because Lithuania has apparently resisted the slower growth in Western Europe until now, and expectations about export markets' growth have improved compared with last autumn, when the prevailing mood was quite grim," she told BNS.
The analyst said that competitiveness of Lithuanian companies has improved compared with the crisis period.
Tauraitė predicts that Orlen Lietuva's planned 35-day maintenance shutdown of its crude refinery will make the overall industrial performance result in April and May worse.
"This is about one-third of all industrial production, and, obviously, the shutdown will have a great impact," she said.
Lithuania's industrial production and sales rose by 3.9 percent in the first three months of this year from a year ago to 17.733 billion litas (EUR 5.14 b). The workday adjusted growth rate was 1.8 percent, Statistics Lithuania said on Monday.
In March compared with February, the country's industrial output increased by 5.4 percent to 6.024 billion litas. On a seasonally-adjusted basis, output was up by 3 percent, the statistics office said.
2012-04-23 18:08
Lithuania's first quarter industrial growth faster than expected
Lithuania's industrial output rose at a higher-than-expected rate in the first quarter and is likely to continue growing at a moderate pace, a SEB Bankas analyst has said on Monday.
Pramonės gamyba / AFP/„Scanpix“ nuotr.
Report mistake
Successfully sent
Thank you
