BUCHAREST (Romania), October 15 (SeeNews) – All economies of southeast European (SEE) countries, except for Bulgaria, are expected to switch to growth next year, while Albania is the only economy expected to show growth in 2009, a revised forecast of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) indicated on Thursday.
Following are EBRD’s revised projections for the growth of gross domestic product (GDP) in 10 SEE countries for 2009 and 2010 (year-on-year percentage change):
|
2009 |
2010 |
Albania |
+3.0 |
+1.6 |
Bosnia and Herzegovina |
-3.1 |
+0.8 |
Bulgaria |
-6.0 |
-1.5 |
Croatia |
-5.4 |
+1.5 |
Macedonia |
-1.6 |
+2.0 |
Moldova |
-8.5 |
+1.5 |
Montenegro |
-4.1 |
+0.1 |
Romania |
-8.0 |
+1.0 |
Serbia |
-4.0 |
+1.0 |
Slovenia |
-7.8 |
+2.6 |
Economic growth in the EBRD region is now projected at 2.5% for next year, up from 1.5% forecast in May, which mostly reflects the recovery from a deeper than anticipated downturn in the first half of this year, rather than a more vigorous economy during 2010, EBRD said in a statement.
Signs of positive growth in the third quarter of 2009 suggest that the recession is now bottoming out in many countries of the EBRD region. However, any upturn in 2010 is likely to be fragile and patchy, it added.