The road to recovery has divergences in Central Europe, the Baltic states and southeastern Europe. Estonia, Poland and Slovakia are forging ahead, with estimated growth rates of nearly 4 percent this year. The Polish economy has been sustained by resilient domestic demand and credit markets,
writes the NYT. Latvia and Lithuania are still struggling after the excessive credit boom before the global financial crisis, when getting mortgages was easy, followed by fiscal retrenchment, when banks tightened credit rules. The secret?
solid consumption,
deep integration with E.U. markets
the good absorption of E.U. funds.
Polish banks in particular hewed to prudent credit policies before the global financial crisis
Poland was one of a few formerly communist countries in which peasants could own their land and small, independent trades were allowed.
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