Janulevičius: Lithuania, which did not dominate the second wave, is already borrowing more than Latvians and Estonians

“According to data from December 15, Lithuania has borrowed 0.16 percent for 10 years. We have never had interest rates this low. I just want to point out that due to the fact that we do not manage the Covid-19 situation, we borrow for +0.16 percent.

At the time, Latvians, who also borrowed for 10 years, paid -0.31 percent. Therefore, after 10 years with a fixed interest rate, they will be paid for the fact that they borrowed. Estonia borrows at -0.19 percent, “he said on Monday on the Delphi theme show.

According to the Worldometer, according to 1 million. Lithuania ranked 19th in the world on December 21, followed by Latvia at 74th and Estonia at 75th.

V. Janulevičius stated that the budget for 2021 foresees 7%. the gross domestic product deficit is not terrible.

“We have to understand that the sooner we manage, the more difficult we will now take steps to control the situation, the cheaper the money will be for us.” The cheaper the money, the faster we can rebuild our economy, the cheaper it will be to give to the companies and public authorities the money to deal with Covid-19, “he said.

In turn, the chairman of the Seimas Budget and Finance Committee, Mykolas Majauskas, warned that the price of Estonia’s debt is affected not only by Covid-19, but also by the size of its debt.

“Lithuania’s debt growth is disturbing, which will certainly affect the cost of borrowing in the future.

It is important to note that the spending we anticipate next year (deficit increase) is exceptional. We plan to really handle the pandemic, have the vaccine, vaccinate people, and stop having the magnitude of the problems that we had this year. This means that in 2022 and 2023 we will not have such costs. The deficit will be reduced perhaps to 3%, and then there may even be a profit ”, said the interlocutor in the program.

Investments will be reviewed

Starting in 2021, the new government withdrew the entire plan called “DNA of the future economy.” Mr. Majauskas said that his investments would be reviewed.

“I hope that the ministers will review all the plans in detail during the next month and that we can include all the necessary projects in the spring, adjusting the budget,” he said.

The commission president added that the previous government also suspected that some projects would not be financed by the European Union Recovery Fund.

Therefore, a condition has been included in the budget that those projects that are not eligible for financing from the recovery fund would not be executed at all, because the Ministry of Finance would not give its consent. It is our business that the fund becomes operational as soon as it is approved and that the projects are also implemented. However, we do not intend to spend as much money as possible and as much as possible, because we have seen hate projects so strange that they really need to be stopped. For example, the production of iodine tablets for the treatment of coronavirus or the electrification of old diesel cars. Such projects discredit the entire recovery fund and the future economic plan. We are all interested in stopping those projects, ”he said.

V. Janulevičius agreed that part of the measures in the DNA plan needed to be revised.

“There were uncertainties about the infrastructure, old projects that were being developed but not being implemented because they were running out of money all the time,” he said.

However, the interviewee was not very positive about the postponement until spring.

“We must spend as much money as possible on the business so that it can recover as quickly as possible, the review must be rushed and the money must be released as soon as possible. To my knowledge, that money should be contracted before December 31 of next year, the previous government said. Deployment should be before January 1, 2023.

Each postponement can do such a low service that we simply will not have time to implement projects, even though they are innovative and necessary for innovations, for the recovery of the economy and business in general, ”said V. Janulevičius.

For her part, Inga Ruginienė, president of the Lithuanian Trade Union Confederation, said that the ADN plan should work for economic recovery and not for the benefit of certain interest groups.

“The plan is far from the main beneficiary: the person. We are in favor that the plan should be reviewed and it is gratifying that the new government understands that certain activities should be reviewed.

I hope that priorities will be set so that as many activities as possible are aimed at increasing human income, because in this difficult period obviously this must be the main objective.

And because of the speed, we were already in a rush in the summer and that rush only gave one result, we lost a lot of time and basically we can’t be happy with very good results, “he said.