Brussels, 25/09/2014 (Agence Europe) - The Commissioner for the Euro, Jyrki Katainen, has called upon the Lithuanian authorities to step up their efforts to ensure that the country's transition to the single currency at the start of 2015 is not accompanied by unjustified increases in prices in the services sector.
“Experience shows that unjustified price hikes are most noticeable in the service sector, where competition from imports is limited. Decisive action is therefore needed for strong enforcement of competition rules, price monitoring and providing sufficient information to consumers”, Katainen said in Vilnius on Thursday 25 September, at the “Euro changeover” conference. He welcomed the reiterated willingness of the Lithuanian government to pursue a “prudent” budgetary policy and “ambitious structural reforms”. He said that the good results of the Lithuanian economy, which has seen growth in GDP of more than 3% since 2011 and falling, although “still high”, unemployment rates, should be seen as an “encouragement” to the other member states.
The knight Vytis, who first featured on Lithuanian coins in the 14th century, will appear on Lithuanian euro coins. (MB)