CEECs Falling Prey to the International Crisis

The current global financial and economic crisis has been spilling over to the Central and Eastern European coun-tries (CEECs). After several years of economic prosperity in most of these countries, activities of the real economy have slowed down. The crisis has reached the region on two tracks. More difficult and costly access to borrowing (first track) exerts a negative impact on private consumption, especially with regard to demand for durable con-sumer goods, such as cars, on private investment (both in construction and equipment), and, finally, on foreign trade. At the same time, CEE exports are suffering from the recession in the EU 15 (second track), above all in Ger-many, the main trading partner for most of the CEECs. Industrial output and export data both reflect the depth of the economic downturn.