Lithuania's GDP contracts for second quarter in a row in Q1 2023, this time by 3.7%, worse than expected

VILNIUS. May 2 (Interfax) - Lithuania's GDP contracted 3.7% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2023, the Lithuanian State Data Agency said in an initial estimate.

A seasonally adjusted decrease of 3% quarter-on-quarter was recorded in Q1 2023.

Lithuania's real GDP totaled 15.8 billion euros in the first quarter of 2023.

Activity of manufacturing enterprises, wholesale and retail trade, transport and warehousing services, as well as the real estate sector had the greatest negative effect on the change in GDP.

Economists polled by Baltic News Service last week had expected GDP to contract 0.8% to 1.8% year-on-year, with one expert saying the fall could be as high as 3.2%. Meanwhile, the fall could be 0.2% -0.75% in quarterly terms, according to experts

This is the second consecutive quarter that Lithuania's GDP has contracted, having dipped 0.4% year-on-year in the fourth quarter 2022 and 1.7% quarter-on-quarter for the reporting period.