World Bank forecasts 10% GDP slump for Lithuania in 2009

As the BNS informs the World Bank forecasts that Lithuania’s GDP will contract by 10 % this year.

In a report published on June 22, the World Bank warned that the Baltic countries would face the sharpest recession in Central and Eastern Europe. Latvia’s GDP is expected to slump by 13 % in 2009.

Despite relatively strong fundamentals, Poland is feeling the pinch of the crisis as well: its GDP this year is expected to grow by a mere 0.5 %.

Central and Eastern Europe’s GDP is expected to decline by 1.6 % this year and remain flat next year.

Nine countries reached agreements with the International Monetary Fund on 55.8 billion US dollars worth of loans from September 2008 to May 2009. Six of them have received aid through the World Bank, the European Commission and several other institutions.