Central and Eastern Europe Seeks Strategic Partner

Although each of the 25 countries in Central and Eastern Europe has undergone a specific transition process during the last decade, the overall progress bears many shared experiences. The paper is based on the 1998 EBRD Transition Report, with its special focus on the region?s financial sector in transition. The report emphasizes that the hard-won achievements of liberalization and privatization must be balanced by progress in institutional reforms. The financial systems of the transition economies are based largely on universal banks, many of which have been or will be privatized with the participation of foreign strategic investors. Developments in the Czech Republic in this regard correspond to overall trends in other transition economies.