Lithuanian Euro Target Seen at Risk as Budget Woes Top Inflation

Lithuania’s budget deficit has become a bigger hurdle than inflation to adopting the euro in 2015 as economic growth slows and tax collection falters, central bank Deputy Chairman Raimondas Kuodis said.

“The main obstacle, as we now see it, is the budget,” Kuodis told reporters today in Vilnius, the capital, citing “serious problems with value-added tax collection” this year and high rates of tax evasion.