Analytics, Banks, Economics, Financial Services, Inflation, Lithuania

"Inflation is expected to reach 3.2% in 2017 and the increase is a bit higher than we projected a while ago. We are a small and open economy and the developments on the market of raw material transfer to our country, as well. I mean increase in oil prices, growing prices for raw materials of food, which stimulates a price hike in Lithuania," Gediminas Simkus, director of the central bank's Economics and Financial Stability Service, told a news conference on Monday.

The bank projects that inflation in the country should stand at 2.2%  next year.

In his words, future faster growth of wages will lead to higher purchasing power of the population, which will subsequently boost domestic consumption.

According to the forecasts, average wages should rise by 6.5% this year and by further 5.7% in 2018.