This overview paper deals with selected economic aspects of EU enlargement related to Austria and the five Central European countries Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia (CEC-5). Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, Austria has been enjoying over-proportionate gains from...

The report provides an overview of macroeconomic developments in 2001 and discusses prospects for 2002 and 2003. It covers twelve transition countries Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine and Yugoslavia. It also includes...

After satisfactory performance of the transition countries in 2000, growth slowed down in 2001 as the external conditions deteriorated. This tendency has not been checked in the first quarter of 2002. Industrial production has weakened, in some countries even declined. Expanding consumption has...

Romania has experienced a drawn-out transformation process and received relatively low amounts of foreign direct investment (FDI). But it has become competitive in labour-intensive manufacturing industries through the integration into European company networks by processing trade. The country...

Focusing on Austria and five countries in Central Europe [the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia (CEC-5)], the paper reviews selected economic developments related to the enlargement of the European Union. Over the past decade, Austria has enjoyed disproportionate gains from...

After satisfactory performance of the transition countries in 2000, their growth slowed down in 2001 as the external conditions deteriorated. This tendency was checked in the second half of 2002. Industrial production and exports have generally strengthened since then - though in some countries...

Despite the unfavourable external economic climate over the past three years, the transition countries have displayed a reasonably good growth performance. The region as a whole has expanded more rapidly than the EU; it is also catching up in terms of productivity - especially in manufacturing....

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,...

Croatia's external debt has been growing steadily since the exchange rate stabilization in 1994. It reached almost 85% of GDP at the end of 2003. The level and the trend raise questions of sustainability and thus of an appropriate policy response. The current trend of debt accumulation is not...

This wiiw report reviews the economic situation in the new EU member states, in the countries of Southeast Europe, in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine as well as in China. For each country, it provides a forecast relating to GDP growth, inflation, unemployment and current accounts in 2004 and 2005....