SEB expects Lithuania’s average annual inflation rate to rise to 3 percent next year, driven by an increase in fuel excise taxes from January, along with anticipated hikes in prices for energy, food and services, Tadas Povilauskas, the bank’s economist, said on Tuesday.
“We expect energy costs to be slightly higher next year and food prices to rise as well. We’re projecting growth of about 1.5 percent compared to this year’s decline,” Povilauskas said during SEB’s economic outlook presentation.
“While services will grow more slowly next year than this year, we believe that services inflation will be the main driver of overall inflation,” he added.
Povilauskas said that a hike in excise taxes and the introduction of a new carbon tax component in January 2025 are expected to push gasoline prices up by about 4 percent and diesel prices by 9 percent.
SEB forecasts that Lithuania’s average annual inflation will decelerate to 1.2 percent this year.
“We believe that the lowest point of inflation is behind us, with annual inflation already above 2 percent in December. We anticipate that there will be months next year when inflation exceeds 3 percent,” the economist said.
Source: BNS
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