Viciunai, a leading Lithuanian food group that is owned by Kaunas Mayor Visvaldas Matijosaitis, has dropped plans to build a large fish processing facility near Belarus' capital of Minsk, citing changes in the business environment and the company's strategy as the reason.

Some 3.166 mln passengers arrived in and departed from Lithuanian airports in the first eight months of this year, up by 13.8 % year-on-year.

Lithuania recorded a current account deficit of 417.3 mln euros for the first half of this year, which accounted for 2.3 % of GDP for the period, the central bank said.

The new Lithuanian law on the legal status of foreigners will make it more difficult for the majority of businessmen from third countries to live and do business in the Baltic state – they will have to invest more than they used to, lawyers say. More privileges are envisaged for foreigners engaged in innovative operations.

Lithuania on Thursday raised 450 mln euros in a tap of its 20-year 750-mln-euro bond placed last year, bringing the total size of the issue, which carries a 2.125% coupon, to 1.2 billion euros.

Orion Asset Management, an investment company of the Swedish-owned group Scaent Baltic, and the Dutch-owned Energy Investment Fund are selling a 46-megawatt wind farm, worth around 72 mln euros, in the district of Mazeikiai, in northwestern Lithuania.

Lithuania and Poland are starting to analyze possible routes for a second LitPol Link power interconnection between the countries as part of preparations for synchronizing the Baltic electricity grids with the Continental European network.

Litgas, a gas trading company operated of the Lithuanian state-run energy holding Lietuvos Energija (Lithuanian Energy, LE), and Norway's gas extraction company Statoil have agreed on small-scale business model of trade of liquefied natural gas (LNG), which has been subject of negotiations for the past 18 months.

In an effort to expand the map of direct flights from Lithuania, around 1 mln euros has been earmarked for support to foreign airlines, up to 200,000 euros per carrier, which will offer new destinations important to Lithuanian passengers or increase the frequency of flights on existing routes.

The price of electricity in Nord Pool Spot's Lithuanian bidding area last week averaged 35.5 euros per megawatt-hours, up 7 % from a week earlier, but down 15% from a year earlier, Litgrid said on Monday.