Working Life Barometer in the Baltic Countries 2002 (pdf) - mol.fi

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money transfer from the EU will increase. The export will keep growing.
(Lietuvos ekonomikos apzvalga, 2002 No.1, p.90)
BANKING SYSTEM
Lithuania has a two-tiered banking system consisting of the central bank and
commercial banks. The primary goal of the central bank is to ensure the
stability of the national currency. To achieve this, the Bank of Lithuania issues
and withdraws from circulation banknotes and coins, implements monetary
policy established by Lithuanian laws, administers foreign reserves, supervises
the activities of commercial banks and carries out other functions prescribed
by the Law on the Bank of Lithuania. (Doing Business in Lithuania 1999,
p.40) Nine commercial deposit money banks and branches of four foreign
banks are operating in Lithuania.
The three largest banks –Vilniaus Bankas, Hansa-LTB and Lietuvos Zemes
Ukio Bankas – hold 78 percent of all banks assets. In 2001 total assets of
Lithuanian commercial banks amounted to 15.5 billions Litas. The loan
portfolio totalled 7.3 billion or 15 percent GDP at he end of 2002. (Doing
Business in Lithuania 2002, p.43)
2001 and 2002 marked the end of privatisation of state-owned banks. In April
2001 the state-owned Lithuanian Savings Bank was merged with Lithuania’s
Hansabankas, owned by the largest commercial bank in the Baltic States
Estonia’s Hansapank. In March 2002 the German Norddeutsche Landesbank
Girozentrale acquired a 76 percent stake in the last state-owned bank, Lietuvos
Zemes Ukio Bankas. The share of foreign equity in Lithuanian banks rose
from 16 percent in 1996 to 89 percent in 2002.
PRIVATISATION PROCESS
The initial privatisation programme was launched in Lithuania in September
1991 and since then it has constituted an integral part of Lithuania's economic
reforms.