Euro-area Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) unexpectedly rose this September to 104.9 points from 103.5 points in August, reaching the highest level since January, the European Commission said in its statement.

After the three Baltic states reached agreement after lengthy and complex negotiations to hold contractor tenders of the European-gauge project Rail Baltica in every individual country rather than via a joint enterprise only, Lithuania's Transport and Communications Ministry holds a different stance on the matter from that of the state-run Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai (Lithuanian Railways, LG).

Lithuania's budget for 2017 is being planned with a small deficit that the European Commission is expected to approve if the country's new Labor Code and other social protection system changes are recognized as structural reforms, Finance Minister Rasa Budbergyte said.

- Lietuvos Duju Tiekimas (Lithuanian Gas Supply, or LDT), a company operated by the state-owned energy group Lietuvos Energija (Lithuanian Energy), will next year buy some of the gas from Koch Industries, one of the US biggest corporations selling raw materials, energy, fertilizers, electronic components, etc. LDT executives did not rule out arrival of gas from the US.

Lithuania's consumer confidence index was unchanged at minus 10 in September from August, data from Statistics Lithuania showed on Wednesday.

The price of electricity in Nord Pool Spot's Lithuanian bidding area last week averaged 36 euros per megawatt-hour, up by 8 % from a week earlier, but down by 17 % from a year earlier.

Lithuania's government decided on Monday to postpone the completion date of the Gas Interconnector Poland-Lithuania (GIPL) gas pipeline until the end of 2021. Energy Minister Rokas Masiulis has told that, with Poland revising the route of the pipeline, the project will be delayed but become cheaper. In his words, the Lithuanian compensation to Poland should be reduced to the extent the Polish costs decline.

In August 4.35 mln cubic meters of natural gas was imported into Estonia from Lithuania, which made up 25 % of total gas imports.

After Poland postponed the end of implementation of the Gas Interconnector Poland-Lithuania (GIPL) gas pipeline by 2.5 years, Lithuania's gas transmission company Amber Grid will have to terminate the tenders of pipeline acquisition and gas pipeline construction before calling new ones.

Industrial production and sales in Lithuania grew by 1.8% to 11.9 bln euros in the first eight months of 2016 year-on-year, Statistics Lithuania said on Wednesday. Seasonally- and workday-adjusted industrial growth rate was 1.5%.