Nieuwe Baltische EU-landen ontpoppen zich tot economische "tijgers" (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - A new report published by the World Bank shows that the new member states are fast-growing and healthy in comparison with the sluggish economies of "Old Europe".

The eight new EU countries surveyed in the report - excluding Malta and Cyprus - grew at a healthy five percent in 2004, says the World Bank; well over twice the two percent managed by the EU 15.

The World Bank attributes some of this performance to the three Baltic countries - Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, the so-called Baltic tigers whose growth "outstripped Central European economies by a wide margin".

However, the growth is broad-based across the new member states, with the report mentioning "a strong recovery in Poland" and "a pick-up in activity in Hungary and the Czech Republic".

Overall last year, all eight new member states outstripped the EU average growth rate.

Furthermore, the report shows that unemployment rates - whilst still high - are "easing across the region (except in the Czech Republic)". The average unemployment rate for the eight countries dropped below 14 percent in the third quarter of last year.

And inflation, whilst rising slightly over the year, "was largely a one-time increase related to EU accession and the rise in oil prices".

The Bank also points to what it describes as a "stunning year" for stock markets in the new member states.

"Central Europe's stock exchanges had a banner year in 2004, boosted by much faster economic growth than in the rest of Europe [and] the powerful positive effect of joining the European Union".