Kesko Senukai Lithuania and ME Investicija, the operator of Girteka Logistics, are the two companies that made the biggest annual leap Coface's Top 500 in Central and Eastern Europe, jumping 94 and 79 spots, respectively, to 336th and 367th positions, according to the updated list published in Verslo Zinios business daily on Friday.

Statistics Lithuania informs that in II quarter 2017, against the same quarter of 2016, labour costs per hour worked in industrial, construction and service enterprises (individual enterprises included), calendar adjusted, increased by 10.4%, of which in business enterprises – 10.6%.

Lithuania's second-largest television and Internet services provider Cgates is borrowing 38 million euros from Swedbank, one of the country's biggest commercial banks.

Economic growth in Lithuania in the second quarter of 2017 was slower than in Latvia or Estonia and lagged slightly behind the EU's average, according to revised estimates published by the EU statistical office Eurostat on September 7th.

Lithuanian Transport Minister Rokas Masiulis says that a deal signed between Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai (Lithuanian Railways) and Orlen Lietuva earlier this year has not only ended long-running disputes between the companies, but has also opened the way for the state railway operator to provide more services to the Polish-owned crude refinery.

After a few years of growing at a slower pace, Lithuania's economy this year shifted into a higher gear. Driven by recovering exports, investments and strong home demand, it should grow by 3.8% in 2017, which is the fastest since 2012, Danske Bank analysts say.

Lithuania has chances of attracting a Polish retail chain into its retail market, but the process would require effort from authorities and would probably take at least two years, market participants and analysts said.

The economic growth in Latvia and Lithuania in the coming years will be steeper than in Estonia, said SEB Banka’s macroeconomic expert Dainis Gaspuitis in an interview with the Latvian public television on Tuesday.

Statistics Lithuania informs that in August 2017, the economic sentiment indicator stood at 4 and, against July, increased by 1 percentage point. The consumer confidence indicator increased by 3 percentage points, industrial and service sector confidence indicators – by 1 percentage point each. The construction confidence indicator decreased by 5 percentage points, the trade confidence indicator – by 1 percentage point.

The Bank of Lithuania has raised its forecast for the insurance market's growth in 2017 to between 9 and 11% after total premiums written rose by 17.4% to 388 million euros in the first half of the year 2017.