BEIJING, Mar 11 (Xinhua): The worsening economic situation in Eastern Europe has stirred up worries that it could spread to the western part of the continent, or even pose new systematic threats to the rest of the world, two Chinese scholars said here Monday.
But the European Union (EU) is expected to fix the problems case by case, they said in an interview with Xinhua.
"Heavy foreign debts and excessive credit growth are the common problems the Eastern European countries faced in the crisis," said Kong Tianping, director of Institute of Eastern European, Russian and Central Asian Studies in the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
He noted that last year, almost all Eastern European countries' foreign debts reportedly exceeded 50 per cent of their GDP.
Western banks controlled some 70 to 90 per cent of the shares in banks in Eastern European countries, he added.
Credit accumulation in those countries is also too fast these years. Citing statistics of Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary, he said that foreign currency loans of enterprises in these countries have seen an average growth of 15 per cent in recent years, and personal consumer credit has increased by an average of 88 per cent.
Economic storm in Eastern Europe gets on global nerves
FE Team | Published: March 12, 2009 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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