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On Tuesday, the amendments to the Law on Excise Duties were favoured by 62 MPs, 7 MPs voted against them and 45 MPs abstained from voting, reports LETA/ELTA.

In accordance with EU requirements, the excise duty on cigarettes will be no less than 221 litas per 1,000 cigarettes from the following year. Until now, such taxation has been applied only to the categories of he most popular and expensive cigarettes.

The excise duty on smoking tobacco will grow from 111 litas to 139 litas per kilogramme. As of 2013, the excise duty will be put up to 163 litas, as of 2015, it will grew to 187 litas and up to 208 litas in 2018.

Under Lithuania's commitments to the EU, the rate on gas oils will be raised from 947 to 1,043 litas per 1,000 litres next year. As a result, a litre of diesel fuel would cost 0.12 litas more.

The excise duty on cigars and cigarillos will be increased. As the Seimas approved the amendments proposed by MPs Antanas Matulas and Vitas Matuzas, the excise duty on the tobacco products will be raised from 38 litas to 80 litas per kilogramme. The EU directive stipulates that the excise duty on these products should reach at least 42 litas for the set amount.

As of next year, it was decided to exempt natural gas from excise duty that is used by local regular busses as motor fuel. Because of this tax exemption, a cubic metre of natural gas should cost by about 0.92 litas less, and natural gas cost per kilometer could fall by about 0.70 litas.