Growth in EBRD Regions Trimmed as Economies Adjust to New Realities
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has revised slightly downwards its expectations of growth across the regions where it invests. Its latest Regional Economic Prospects report gives a growth figure for 2024 of 2.8 per cent, 0.2 percentage points down on its previous forecast in May 2024.
The Bank – which works in central, eastern and south-eastern Europe, Central Asia and the southern and eastern Mediterranean (SEMED) region – cites varying performance trajectories across its economies. In 2025, it expects growth of 3.5 per cent, 0.1 percentage point below the previous projection.
The report, entitled “Along the adjustment path”, gives several reasons for the downward revisions. Economic activity has been slower than expected in Central Asia, where mining activities in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have stagnated. South-eastern European Union (EU) states have been impacted by spillovers from a weaker outlook in advanced Europe.
Meanwhile, economies in the southern and eastern Mediterranean (SEMED) region are feeling the effects of a severe drought and the ongoing conflict in Gaza and Lebanon which continues to impact the economies of Lebanon and Jordan.
