Euro zone crisis clouds recovery in Europe, Central Asia

September 24th, 2011 - 6:41 pm ICT by IANS  

Washington, Sep 24 (IANS) The ongoing economic recovery in the emerging Europe and Central Asian region is advancing at a slow pace and is at risk from the euro zone debt crisis, the World Bank said.

“Most countries in emerging Europe and Central Asia have recovered from the global economic crisis, but growth has returned at lower rates than pre-crisis trends in most of the region. The region is expected to record a real growth rate of 4.3 percent in 2011, which is one of the lowest of any developing region,” said Philippe Le Houerou, World Bank Vice President for the Europe and Central Asia region.

“The sovereign debt problems in Western Europe pose challenges to the sustainability of this relatively tepid recovery. The Eastern Europe and Central Asia region is especially dependent on Western Europe as an export market and a source of finance and migrant remittances, so slower growth in the West will hurt,” Xinhua quoted Le Houerou as saying.

Speaking at a press briefing during the annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) Friday, he noted that the slow recovery in the region may be establishing a “new normal” of lower economic growth rates in many of the region’s countries.

The annual meetings of the Washington-based World Bank and IMF are set to run from Sep 23 to 25, featuring seminars, press conferences and related events.

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