12 January 2010

The latest national accounts data (second quarter 2009) continue to show a sharp decrease in the Baltic countries. The economic crisis started there already in the first half of 2008, at the same time as in many other EU countries. Only Lithuania was still growing in the third quarter 2008, but then plunged into a fierce downhill. The service sector, which accounts for a high share in GDP in the Baltic countries, has been hit by a particularly sharp downturn.

Armenia and Ukraine were the hardest hit EECCA economies by mid-2009. The dramatic collapse of construction is a common factor in these two countries. Russia's GDP has been falling since early 2009. In the second quarter, its GDP contracted by about 10 per cent, year-on-year. As deep a downturn was also seen in Georgia and Moldova. The decline of construction deepened the recession during the second quarter in Russia and Moldova with a fall of about one-fifth from a year earlier. As a contrast to the other EECCA countries, in Georgia the biggest contribution to the contraction of GDP came from the 20 per cent decline in trade and some service activities.

Source: UNECE Statistical Database, Eurostat and national statistics.

* Second quarter 2009 not yet available

** Quarterly data not available for Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan