Beat the rush to Eastern Europe

Investing in Eastern Europe: Beat the rush to Eatern Europe - at Moneyweek.co.uk - the best of the week's international financial media.

Eastern Europe is on a roll, says Kathryn Cooper in The Sunday Times. The region's stockmarkets have surged by about 60% over the past year and Polish and Hungarian stocks are now near record highs as investors have sought to cash in on the region's rapid economic growth. This is set for a further boost when eight Eastern European states join the EU in May, adding 75 million people to the single market.

Growth has been underpinned by improvements in government finances and reduced inflation, which has gradually lowered interest rates and thus boosted the economy. At the same time, "money has also poured in" from Western European countries keen to exploit cheap labour and a growing market for their goods as increasingly wealthy consumers up their spending. A recent upswing in consumption, along with strong export growth, should raise the region's average GDP growth to 4% next year, with the "Baltic Tigers" - Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia - set to keep expanding at 5%, says Wirtschaftsblatt.

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