Akhir 05 , 1432 H. / March 10, 2011 -- The economies of all Central and East European states will expand this year, but unemployment will remain high and recent declines in output mean it will take them longer to catch up to their western neighbours, a leading think-tank said Thursday, according to dpa. The sharp drop in output in most of these countries since the world financial crisis has led to both absolute and relative declines in per capita gross domestic product (GDP), the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (WIIW) said in its latest forecast. As a consequence, it will take five to seven more years for the region's economies to converge with those of Western European. "The catching-up process of the previous decade was thus interrupted, and income gaps vis-a-vis Western Europe widened," the WIIW said. Several countries in the region that registered negative GDP in 2010 - Latvia, Romania, Croatia and Montenegro - will return to growth this year. Ukraine will experience the greatest rise in GDP, 4.5 per cent. The WIIW said that despite the recovery, post-crisis growth in the region will be slower, which implies that "the labour market situation will be 'far from normal.'" "Unemployment will remain high, with young and low-skill workers especially affected," the organization said. The forecast covers Turkey, countries of the former Warsaw pact, ex-Yugoslavia, the Baltic republics, and Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.
