Lithuania GDP Drops At Slower Pace In Q3

Sponsored Links

The Lithuania economy shrank at a slower pace in the third quarter, the Statistics Lithuania said in a preliminary report on Tuesday.

The gross domestic product or GDP dropped 14.3% year-on-year in the third quarter, compared to the 19.7% fall in the previous quarter. The second quarter decline was revised from 20.4% reported initially. A year ago, the GDP was up 1.3%.

Sequentially, the GDP increased 6% in the third quarter, after falling 7.7% in the second quarter, which was revised from the 9.8% drop estimated earlier.

On a chain-linked volume basis, the GDP dropped 14.3% year-on-year in the third quarter, compared to a revised 19.5% fall in the previous quarter, revised up from a 20.2% decline reported earlier. On a sequential basis, the GDP rose 13% from 2.5% in the second quarter.

For the nine months of the year, the GDP decreased 15.7% compared to the same period of the previous year.

Further, the statistical office reported that the GDP for 2008 was revised to show a decline of 2.8% from 3% fall reported initially, after a revised 9.8% growth in 2007.

However, economists have taken the data with caution. "The quality of the numbers is highly questionable as they indicate a recovery in GDP that has not been reflected in the monthly data and as the "recovery" is due to very deep deflation in the GDP deflator - something that is not visible in the monthly inflation data measures by the consumer price index", economists at the Danske Bank said in a note.

Inflation continued to rise in September. The CPI rose 2.7% year-on-year, faster than the 2.6% growth in August.

The Lithuania economy shrank at a slower pace in the third quarter, the Statistics Lithuania said in a preliminary report on Tuesday. (Market News Provided by RTTNews)