Rokas Bancevičius, a senior analyst at the Norwegian-owned bank, said that Lithuania could take an example from Latvia, which has set itself a clear target and is likely to join the eurozone as soon as 2014 by taking active efforts to reduce inflation.
"I think we can speak about 2015 (as a date for Lithuania's euro entry), but euro entry has to be clearly identified as a goal. Latvia's example shows that if you identify a goal and are working hard enough to achieve it, and are cutting inflation through unconventional measures, then you can try to introduce (the single currency)," he told reporters.
Economists at the Bank of Lithuania, which released its latest macroeconomic forecasts on Monday, predict that Lithuania will not meet the price stability criterion either at the end of 2012 or in late 2013 and, therefore, will not qualify for euro entry in 2015.
Social Democratic leader Algirdas Butkevičius, who has been nominated to be the next prime minister, said on Monday that Lithuania should strive to join the eurozone "as soon as possible", but added that inflation would prevent it from doing so until 2015, a year later than neighboring Latvia.
DNB Bankas forecasts that inflation in Lithuania will reach 3.2 percent this year, 2.7 percent next year, 2.5 percent in 2014 and 3 percent in 2015.
Lithuania's bid to join the euro in 2007 was rejected because its inflation exceeded the Maastricht limit. Estonia adopted the single currency in 2011.
