Statistics Lithuania informs that, according to the Labour Force Survey data, in II quarter 2018, the unemployment rate stood at 5.9%. Against I quarter 2018, it decreased by 1.3 percentage points; against the respective period of 2017, it decreased by 1.1 percentage points. In II quarter 2018, the male unemployment rate stood at 6.5, female – 5.3%.

Novaturas, one of the largest tour operators in Lithuania, posted 8.317 mln euros in audited net profits in the first half of this year and plans to pay interim dividends of 0.77 euros per share, spending 6.011 mln euros.

Lithuania's government plans to make up its mind on the Klaipeda-based LNG terminal by the end of this year.

In the first six months of 2018, all Baltic ports together received and shipped 76.678 mln tons of cargo, which was 0.1% or 107,500 tons less than in the respective period last year.

With the Government having launched a public consultation, the Bank of Lithuania presents its assessment of and proposals for the presented changes in the tax and pension system. The assessment relays the results of the central bank’s analysis of whether the changes are well-suited to tackle two major corresponding issues: insufficient capacity in public finances and the adverse impact of demographic factors on the pension system.

Poland's investment fund MCI. PrivateVentures, which now owns 51 percent of shares in the Baltic e-retailer Pigu, has been given the go-ahead to acquire full control of the Vilnius-based company and of Poland's Morele.net.

Analysts from SEB, one of the largest commercial banks in Lithuania, have kept the country's GDP forecasts unchanged.

Payments to become even simpler and faster in Lithuania

Due to the price difference in 2011-2017, consumers overpaid another 7.54 mln euros to Vilniaus Energija (Vilnius Energy), the former heating company in the Lithuanian capitals, bringing the total overpaid amount to almost 26 mln euros.

Lithuania's electricity and natural gas distribution company Energijos Skirstymo Operatorius (Energy Distribution Operator, or ESO) said in a stock exchange release that its revenue for January through June 2018 edged up by 0.4 % y-o-y to 309 mln euros.