Lithuania’s Central Government Budget Gap Narrows to 1.4% of GDP

Lithuania’s central government budget had a deficit of 1.4 percent of gross domestic product in the first quarter, the Finance Ministry said.

The shortfall, calculated on a cash basis, narrowed from 1.5 percent of GDP in the first three months of last year, the ministry, based in the capital, Vilnius, said today in a statement on its website. The measure includes all public finances except municipal budgets.

Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius’s government is seeking to narrow the fiscal deficit to 3 percent of GDP this year from 5.5 percent in 2011. Government debt rose to 39.1 percent of GDP at the end of March from 39 percent in February, the ministry said in a separate statement.

To contact the reporter on this story: Milda Seputyte in Vilnius at mseputyte@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Balazs Penz at bpenz@bloomberg.net