Bank Citadele has conducted a survey among the inhabitants of the Baltic countries to know how their financial position will change in the next six months. While more than a quarter of Lithuanians are sure that this connection will improve, only 16% of respondents think so.In the Citadele survey, 3% of Estonian people said that in the next six half years their financial position is probably significantly improved, while 13% expect slightly improved. But more there are those who are pessimistic: 47% of Estonians think that their financial position will worsen slightly or significantly. Another 31% believe that in the first half of 2025 their monetary situation will remain unchanged.
“Pessimism among the people in Estonia is high enough since the reduction of Euribor rates and the downturn inflation leaves many families with more money. and Estonia’s Economy is finally beginning to show signs of improvement. On the other side, the new year began with an increase in taxes, and they will only become more in the future. The media are actively discussing these tax changes, especially in the key of how less money will be left to people because of the new taxes.” – noted
the head of retail banking Citadele in the Baltic countries and Member of the Bank’s Board Edward Rebane. He added, that the sentiment of people is also strongly influenced by the general economic background in the country. “Although Estonia’s economy has improved, it has been in a bad state, which affects the confidence of people.This is confirmed by the results of our survey, according to which in Lithuania with the strongest economy the
confidence of people in their self Financial position is significantly higher, Rebane said. – – Restoring the confidence of people is often slower and with a lag, even if the economic situation is improving.” In Lithuania 28% of respondents said that they believe that their financial position will improve, and only 23% think it will worsen. 41% predicted that their situation would remain unchanged. The scores of Latvian people were between Estonia and Lithuania. There 24% think their position will improve, 27% think that it will will deteriorate, and 35% think that it will not change. Edward Rebane noted that Citadele conducted a similar survey last summer, and compared with that time the opinions of the people in Estonia have become more determined: “Now people with positive or negative views
of the future are a few percentage more, but at the same time there were significantly fewer those who could not take the determined position. While 24% responded in the summer that they could not answer the question accurately, there are only 7%.” According to Rebane, these estimates also reflect the macroeconomic situation in the Baltic countries. In 2024 year the biggest economic growth
was in Lithuania, the Latvian economy was stagnating, and Estonia was declining. “In addition, inflation in Estonia was slightly higher, and the average increase in wages is lower, than in Latvia and Lithuania,” Rebane added. Nevertheless, Rebane predicts that in 2025 year inflation will remain low in all Baltic countries: in Estonia – about 3.3%, in Latvia – 2.2%, in Lithuania – 2.7%. Average growth of wages is likely to remain high, althoughthe rate of growth will slow down.
“Based on this, it is possible to predict, that in 2025 year the financial position of households in all three countries will improve – especially
in the Lithuanians
with their stronger economy”, Rebane concluded. The survey commissioned by Bank Citadele was conducted by research firm Norstat in three Baltic countries. In each country was surveyed in total of 1000 people. About Bank Citadele Citadele aims to bring innovation into the banking sector in the Baltic countries and offer people and businesses more opportunities to use banking services. Besides day-to-day
banking services, Citadele offers services based on financial technology, including a modern mobile application, as well as contactless and instant payments. Citadele was the first in the Baltic
countriestointroducenamepayments,openaccountswithelectronicidentification,andalsoringssupportingcontactlesspayments.CitadeleGroup-Latvianfinancialconcern.CitadeleCitadeleGrouphas its head officeinRiga,whilesubsidiariesandbranchesoperateinEstoniaLatviaandLithuania.