Against the tide: Emerging Europe set for credit crunch contagion

Eastern Europe has borrowed cheaply this decade to fund a credit binge. Now, as the global credit crisis starts to bite, the region’s economies are becoming increasingly vulnerable.

The credit crunch is spreading around the globe. No region will escape its impact. The areas that will suffer most are those countries newly freed from Marxism that have empowered their people for the first time to purchase their own homes and invest in shares (financed by credit cards and bank loans). They have binged.

The property boom of 2000–05 enveloped eastern Europe in a big way. As these economies experienced accelerated growth and increased household incomes, easy money flowed in.

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