Lithuania: defence minister to discuss howitzer procurement in France

Lithuanian Defence Minister Arvydas Anusauskas visited France on December 29 for talks with his French counterpart, Sebastien Lecornu, on the acquisition of Caesar Mark II wheeled self-propelled howitzers. Anusauskas and Lecornu are also expected to discuss “bilateral cooperation, assistance to Ukraine, and other key security and defence issues”, the Lithuanian Defence Ministry said in a…

Poland: C/A deficit up in Q3 2022

Poland’s current account deficit rose to EUR 5.78 billion at the end of Q3, against a revised deficit of EUR 4.42 billion recorded at the end of Q2, according to central bank figures released on December 29. Exports of goods in the third quarter grew by 24.8% YoY and imports by 27.1%. The country recorded…

Lithuania: inflation at 20% in December 2022

According to preliminary estimates by Statistics Lithuania, prices in December grew by 20% YoY. Annual inflation was mainly driven by increases in the prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages, housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuel goods and services, and transportation, the statistics service said in a press release on December 29. Meanwhile, monthly inflation…

Lithuania: army division to be formed

Lithuania mulls forming an army division, Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas has said. “We have the ambition to form a Lithuanian division in the future while receiving division-level capabilities, such as HIMARS,” he said. An army division is usually made up of several brigades and includes 10,000 to 15,000 soldiers. Some 11,500 professional soldiers, almost 3,500…