The excise tax rate for strong alcoholic beverages will rise by 23 percent next March and that for wine and beer will surge by up to 112%, which will drive drinks prices up by up to 1 euro per bottlel.

At the end of third quarter, the value of loans to businesses, which account for the largest loan portfolio share, boosted by a tenth year on year, to EUR 8.7 bln. This is the largest volume of credit to businesses in over the last few years.

A court has lifted an order that froze almost 20 million euros worth of funds of Vilniaus Energija (Vilnius Energy), a local district heating supplier controlled by France's Veolia, to ensure the payment of a 19-million-euro fine imposed by the Lithuanian Competition Council.

Lithuania's three international airports in November posted a 6% y-o-y rise in total flight numbers to 4,058 and a 6% increase in passenger numbers to 356,900 passengers.

Finland's AF-Consult, which is part of the Swedish-owned engineering group AF, will supervise the 345-million-euro construction of a new biomass and waste-fired cogeneration plant in Vilnius.

Electricity prices for most consumers in Lithuania should decline by an average of 5% next year. The price has been on the downward scale for the 4th consecutive year, dropping by a total of 22% since 2013.

In January-October this year Latvia imported gasoline and diesel fuel mainly from Lithuania.

AviaAM Leasing China, a joint venture between Warsaw-listed, Lithuania-based AviaAM Leasing and China's Henan Civil Aviation Development and Investment Company (HNCA), will lease 16 Airbus aircraft, valued at 800 mln USD, to Russia's airline Aeroflot.

Lithuanian startups have already started thinking about moving to Latvia as the tax rate for startup salaries in Lithuania has become three times as high as in the neighboring county, whose parliament has recently approved tax advantages for innovative businesses.

Small Planet Group, a Lithuanian-owned company that owns air charter operations in Lithuania, Poland and Germany, last year posted a net profit of 14.103 mln euros, almost a four-fold increase from 3.726 mln euros in 2014.