Summary Despite near stagnation in the euro area and the negative impact of the Ukraine crisis, in most of the NMS economies and some of the Western Balkan countries growth prospects are viewed as positive. While the NMS economies will preserve their positive growth differential vis-à-vis the...

The report analyses recent economic developments and short- and medium-term development prospects, covering the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and Southeast Europe including Turkey, together with Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and China. Separate chapters present an overview of...

After a period of exceptionally high growth in the whole region of Central, East and Southeast Europe in the past two years, there has been some slowdown in GDP growth. Nevertheless growth remains largely robust. In particular the new member states of the EU (NMS) appear to be largely decoupled...

For about a decade, GDP growth in Central European countries has been consistently faster than in the 'old' EU-15. As a first approximation, one can expect a growth differential of about 2 percentage points to prevail also in the future. This practical rule-of-thumb is broadly consistent with...

Under favourable external conditions, the economies of the New EU Member States (NMS) fared even better in the first quarter of 2006 than in 2005. Investment accelerated sharply and industry is proving buoyant. Labour productivity has registered strong gains, unit labour costs declined. This is...

In its new special issue on the economies of Central, East and Southeast Europe, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (wiiw) analyses the current economic situation in the region as well as development prospects for 2005 and 2006, presenting revised forecasts based on results...

In 2005 most of the new EU member states (NMS) performed even better than in 2004. They have successfully managed the accession to the EU and gained the ability to grow fast despite the anaemic performance of the old EU. FDI inflows reached a record high. In the coming two years, economic...

The transition countries approach EU enlargement with GDP growth outperforming the 'old' EU. In 2003, Poland's economy resumed quite strong growth after two years of stagnation. Growth accelerated also in the Czech Republic, while it experienced some moderate slowdown in Romania, Bulgaria,...

For the first time since the transformation began, all transition economies recorded GDP growth in the year 2000. Some of the traditional 'losers' grew much faster than the traditional 'winners' of the transition process. The average growth rate in the region more than doubled and the...

The external conditions facing the transition economies slightly improved on balance during the year 2004. The eight new EU member states of Central and Eastern Europe (NMS-8) recorded higher GDP growth (5% on average) than in the previous year, largely thanks to expanding domestic demand - in...