The crisis goes East: a stop to transition?

The global crisis has hit severely the Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs), even though the impact is different from country to country and depends mainly on previous macroeconomic fundamentals.

The ‘exit strategy’ is anything but easy for CEECs because they will need to adapt to tight external financing constraints and their economic prospects heavily depend on foreign demand (especially from Western Europe). The Policy Brief provides criteria to assess the impact of the crisis in CEECs. It also points out that reforming processes are slowing down but they have not been reversed. This is a big achievement but it is not enough.

Completing the transition to full market economies and redefining the role of the State, rather than minimizing it, will be the best instrument to avoid future shocks. In a nutshell, the completion of their transition is probably the best answer CEECs can give to the crisis.

• Primary Source

ISPI: Policy Brief: The crisis goes East: a stop to transition? [PDF] http://www.ispionline.it/sites/default/files/pubblicazioni/pb_172_2009_0.pdf

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