EBRD: Small downgrade to economic growth outlook
Overview:
The EBRD has released an update to its economic forecast from May. This sees a small downgrade to the economic growth outlook for the Transition countries as a whole largely due to a less favourable external environment. Troubles in the EU (both fiscal tightening and financial market volatility) will impact negatively on the region but not derail the economic recovery. Growth is still expected to be a respectable 3.5% in 2010 and 3.9% in 2011. There is increasing divergence between the regions, however. South Eastern Europe continues to underperform the other three regions and its outlook has also been significantly weakened since the last forecast. The other three regions are either little changed or upgraded. All regions, however, are still expected to post positive growth of around 3% or better next year.