Lithuania Expects Minor Impact From Russia's Import Bans

By The Moscow Times

Aug. 8, 2014

A photographer takes a picture of an electronic billboard, showing the time left before Lithuania joins the Eurozone, over the main entrance of Lithuania's central bank office in Vilnius.

VILNIUS — Lithuania's economy will likely see a limited impact from Russia's recent ban on many Western food products but economic growth could slow slightly should sanctions drag on, the government said Friday.

"We can now see that influence will not be very big," Economy Minister Evaldas Gustas said at a news conference. "If the process drags for longer, then due to the food products embargo, GDP growth might slow down by 0.2 percentage points."

The government has forecast GDP to expand 3.4 percent this year.

Gustas said that Lithuanian logistics companies might suffer, as about 10 percent of the trade they carry to Russia are food products, both from Lithuania and elsewhere.

Last year, Lithuanian food products exported to Russia made up only 1 percent of all exports of Lithuanian produced goods.

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