Updated wiiw forecasts for 2004 and 2005 (by Peter Havlik and Leon Podkaminer) Bulgaria economy keeps growing fuelled by credit expansion (by Anton Mihailov) Countries covered Bulgaria Romania booming, but cumbersome years ahead until EU accession (by Gábor Hunya) Countries covered Romania...

Export quality indicators for the transition countries (by Robert Stehrer, pp. 1-3) Countries covered Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, China Topics International Trade and Competitiveness On the profitability of Austrian...

Slovakia after the elections (by Doris Hanzl-Weiss; pp. 1-3) Keywords Elections, Fiscal policy Countries covered Slovakia Topics Macroeconomic Analysis and Policy Labour market issues in Europe’s Eastern and Western Balkan neighbours (by Hermine Vidovic; pp. 4-9) Keywords Labour market,...

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...

Growth in the CESEE region will follow the unimpressive pattern displayed by the euro area. The longer-term convergence of income levels in the CESEE countries can no longer be expected to be as rapid as was assumed a decade or so ago. Growth in the period 2015-2017 is not going to deviate...