Eastern Europe to See Recovery in 2010: EBRD
Eastern Europe will recover by the end of next year as government stimulus measures start to take hold and banks return to the region, Thomas Mirow, president of The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, told CNBC.
“What we see or have seen is a very bad Q4 in 2008, an awful Q1 in 2009,” and there are signs of the crisis bottoming out in 2009 and a “low, flat recovery” next year, Mirow told CNBC Tuesday.
He attributed his predictions to a number of factors, one of which is increased engagement from international financial institutions into the region. He also expects stimulus packages in Western European countries to boost the export markets of the region’s economies.
Eastern Europe has been hit hard the economic downturn. The IMF has predicted that emerging European economies will contract by 4.9 percent in 2009. The EBRD takes an even more pessimistic view with a forecast for a contraction of 5.2 percent.
The EBRD, which is owned by 61 countries, the EU and the European Investment Bank, is planning to invest a record $9.5 billion into the region this year. It’s funding comes from donor countries outside of Central and Eastern Europe.
- Watch the full interview with Thomas Mirow above.
For the Investor: