Even as annual inflation continues to run excess of 20 percent, it has edged down in the past two months and is expected to drop significantly next year, according to Lithuania’s central bank and finance minister.
“Inflation is easing. It has already peaked and various institutions are forecasting an average annual inflation rate of less than 10 percent next year,” Finance Minister Gintarė Skaistė told a press conference on Tuesday.
The preliminary average annual inflation rate stood at 18.1 percent in November, according to the latest figures from Lithuania’s statistics service, Statistics Lithuania.
Gediminas Šimkus, chairman of the central Bank of Lithuania, says inflation is still far too high.
“It will stay this high with us for some time to come and there’s probably not much of a difference between 21 percent and 19 percent. It’s just too high,” Šimkus told reporters.
The central banker agrees that monthly inflation will fall next year because commodity prices have already peaked.
President Gitanas Nausėda says that high inflation will be cushioned next year by rising income. He also expects the economy to stabilise in 2023. Besides, the president says, Lithuania has no direct tools to curb inflation.
“At the moment, we don’t really have that many instruments to influence inflation directly because we are part of the euro area and we know very well that inflation is also high in other euro area countries. Yes, I agree that inflation in Lithuania is even higher than in many EU countries, but it has to do with rising energy prices,” Nausėda told reporters in Vilnius on Tuesday, adding that he expected inflation to further ease next year.
Lithuania’s annual inflation rate edged down to 21.4 percent in November, the country’s statistics office reported earlier in the day.
Inflation continued its downward trajectory for a second consecutive month in November after having fallen to 23.6 percent in October from 24.1 percent in September.
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