The economic outlook for central and eastern Europe is as divergent as it has been in years. With quantitative easing in the eurozone making economic recovery a realistic outlook in countries close to the common currency area, those with strong dollarisation or reliance on Russia are torn in the opposite direction.
As the most recent economic forecast of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) shows, countries in central Europe and the Baltics – especially Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia and Hungary – are likely to see benefits from the weaker euro and low oil prices, as well as an improvement in economic convergence with more advanced countries. The region is expected to see growth of 2.9% in 2015 and 3% in 2016, according to the forecast published at the annual meeting of the EBRD in Tbilisi, Georgia, in May – up from January’s forecast of 2.6% for 2015.
