Large companies in Latvia are more optimistic about the business opportunities in 2018 than companies in neighboring Lithuania and Estonia, writes LETA, according to the latest Baltic CFO Outlook published by SEB Banka.

Japan's Hitachi, a corporation that was due to build the new Visaginas nuclear power plant in Lithuania, is closing down its mission established in the Baltic state nearly six years ago.

Statistics Lithuania informs that, based on non-final data obtained from customs declarations, Intrastat reporting and VAT returns data, exports in September 2017 amounted to EUR 2.30 billion, imports – EUR 2.42 billion. Exports of goods of Lithuanian origin amounted to EUR 1.41 billion. The foreign trade deficit of Lithuania amounted to EUR 111.9 million.

The Swedish financial group SEB's Baltic banks will provide 4.3 million euros in financing for renewing the car fleet of Carlsberg Group, the owner of Lithuania's biggest brewery Svyturys-Utenos Alus.

Lithuania's unemployment rate stood at 7.4% in early November 2017, unchanged from a month ago, but down by 0.1 points year-on-year, figures from the country's Labor Exchange showed on Tuesday.

Bono, the leader of the legendary Irish music bands U2, has been one of the largest investors in Utena, a city 100 km north of the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, for the past decade, 15min.lt news portal said.

The Baltic states regained independence from the Soviet Union in August 1991. The years before had been marked by economic hardship, food shortages and high inflation. When the new governments set out to reform the economies and introduce market-based economic systems a key objective was therefore to support economic growth and raise living standards towards levels in Western Europe. The convergence path turned out to be more twisted and challenging than anticipated.

As Klaipedos Nafta (Klaipeda Oil) is thinking about what to do with the Klaipeda LNG terminal's floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), named Independence, after its lease contract expires in 2024, analysts and market participants say that Lithuania will continue to need liquefied natural gas, but green energy supporters argue that the long-term outlook for the fuel is uncertain.

City Service, a property administration and maintenance group owned by Lithuania's Icor, has purchased Jenasa, a provider of administration services to apartment building associations in Madrid, for 1 million euros as it continues to invest in Spain.

Statistics Lithuania informs that in III quarter 2017, country’s gross domestic product (GDP), estimated based on available statistical data and econometric models, amounted to EUR 11.3 billion at current prices.