The Eastern Europe region looks to be doing better-than-expected. The region’s economies, along with related exchange traded funds (ETFs), have shaken off the clutches of the financial crisis and may be on course for an expansion if the forecasts are correct.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has upgraded its economic growth forecasts for Russia, Turkey, Kazakhstan and Poland, with a revised 3.3% growth across the region. The previous forecast called for 2.5% growth, reports Joe Parkinson for The Wall Street Journal. The EBRD estimates that the region contracted 6.1% in 2009.
Chief Economist Erik Berglof says that “appropriate public and private sector policies and actions to clean up balance sheets, restructure debt and deal with distressed assets will be important to help sustain credit growth and support economic recovery.”
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Turkey. Turkish Central Bank Governor Durmas Yilmaz highly expects that inflation will be between 5.5% and 8.3%, which may force interest rate hikes later this year, writes Hatice Aydogdu for Interactive Investor. Yilmaz hopes to stabilize inflation at around 5% in the medium term.
The economy contracted around 6% in 2009 and the government projects a 3.5% expansion for the year. Yilmaz puts an optimistic estimated growth at around 5%. [Why Turkey is worth a look.]
- iShares MSCI Turkey Index (NYSEArca: TUR)
