Lithuania's economy bounced back with annual growth of 6.6 percent in the third quarter, taking another major step along the road to recovery from a brutal recession in 2009 though the pace of expansion was expected to slow. Friday's better than expected statistics office data confirmed government expectations of strong growth this year after a modest rise of 1.4 percent in 2010.
The economy contracted by 14.8 percent two years ago. Analysts said they did not expect the heady rate of growth to last, predicting problems in the euro zone would likely hit demand for the Baltic state's exports. All three Baltic nations have made export-led recoveries from deep recessions. Estonia adopted the euro at the start of this year and Lithuania and Latvia hope to follow suit. But analysts noted some clouds on the horizon. "We expect growth to slow over the next quarter to below 5 percent year-on-year," said DnB Nord analyst Jekaterina Rojaka.