IMF mission praises Lithuania's euro adaption

Head of the IMF mission to Lithuania Christoph Klingen said on Monday the Baltic country is making a good progress towards the euro, after meeting with Lithuania's Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius in Vilnius. Klingen welcomed Lithuania's ambition to join the eurozone in January 2015. "We assume that this is the next logical step on Lithuania's European integration path. It will bring significant benefits to the economy," Klingen said to local media. "But it remains particularly important to stick to the fiscal rules in order to achieve long term success of the euro adoption. Lithuania is moving in the right direction towards the euro, we will assist to Lithuania when it becomes the member of the euro zone," he added. The euro would create favorable conditions for enhanced financial stability, trade and investment growth, Butkevicius indicated after the meeting, according to local media. Klingen admitted that Lithuania's fiscal situation is improving but also noted that new taxes may have to be introduced yet. The economy of Lithuania has entered a broadly favorable trajectory of healthy and balanced growth, but income convergence with Western Europe still has a long way to go, the IMF mission noted in its concluding statement. The IMF mission led by Klingen has been working in Lithuania for one week. The IMF projects Lithuania's real GDP growth rate to pick up to 3.5 percent in 2014, while economic performance in 2013 was solid, with GDP growth rate of 3.3 percent, one of the highest in the EU. Lithuania plans to introduce euro on January 1, 2015. The country would become the 19th member of the euro zone and the last of the three Baltic states to join the single currency bloc.