The Lithuanian president has hit at the government for “sluggishness” in addressing inflation. The president’s office even commissioned a poll, suggesting that nine out of ten Lithuanians believe the authorities are not doing enough.
President Gitanas Nauseda’s office shared the results of the opinion poll by Baltijos Tyrimai on March 16.
53% of respondents said the authorities’ current policies to cushion the effects of inflation were “totally insufficient” and another 37% said they were “rather insufficient”.
6% of those polled saw the authorities’ steps as “rather sufficient” or “totally sufficient”.
90% of respondents also said that they were personally affected by the rising prices of energy, fuel, food and services. Only 7% said they were not affected.
The poll showed that lower income earners were more affected by rising prices.
In a news conference on March 16, President Nauseda criticized the ruling coalition for their “sluggishness” in fighting inflation.
Last week, the parliament decided not to consider the president’s proposal to offer 100-euro one-off payments to low earners, but agreed to debate his proposal to raise the tax-exempt income threshold to 510 euros from the current 460 euros.
The opinion poll found that 71% of respondents supported Nauseda’s both proposals. 19% did not approve of them.
The pollster Baltijos Tyrimai polled 1,017 people aged over 18 years between February 22 and March 3. (LRT/Business World Magazine)
