In the first quarter of this year, both the core loan portfolio and core deposit portfolio rose 10% and 29% respectively, compared to the same period last year, in line with more optimistic business expectations.
"Despite the continuous geopolitical tension in the neighbouring markets, the main Lithuania's economic sectors are growing steadily, and this stimulates the entire country's economy. The most important thing is that Lithuania's business sector shows confidence in the future of our economy and maintains active by borrowing and launching new investment projects," says Gintautas Galvanauskas, CEO of Danske Bank Lithuania.
Positive business expectations are also reflected in economic forecasts. Despite the losses in the Russian market that is important to Lithuania, Danske Bank analytics forecast that the growth of Lithuania's economy will remain sustainable and will reach 2.5%. Moreover, it is expected to have even more active economic growth recovery. The growth is expected to be more rapid and reach up to 3.2%, by becoming independent from the Russian market and targeting export flows to other markets. Prospective of the next few years is the brightest in the entire European Union – the average pace of Lithuania's economy growth is expected to reach 3.4% until 2017.
"According to the renewed strategy of the Danske Bank Group, this year Baltic countries will continue paying particular attention to business and private banking customers. During the last year, the core loan portfolio increased by 10% and it shows that we can successfully reach and implement the ambitious goals of the new strategy. In the future we will consistently enhance the service in this segment and implement various banking service solutions for our customers," says Galvanauskas, the bank reported.
