Emergent Europe Currencies Lose Ground

TRADUS DE ANDREI NĂSTASE
English Section / 3 martie 2009

Emergent Europe currencies depreciated yesterday driven by a more than 2% plunge of the forint after European leaders had just refused to pass a rescue plan for the entire region during the summit held late last week.

The rejection of Hungary"s request for a 180 billion EUR rescue plan for Eastern Europe discouraged hope for a broader agreement to support the entire region meant to calm down concerns that imbalanced some of the most stable economies.

Central European currencies, lending operations and stock exchanges have been significantly affected by concerns with economic growth prospects, bank soundness and dependency upon foreign financing. Hungary and Latvia have already asked for IMF support.

The forint dropped to 306.1 HUF/EUR, down by 2.2% compared to the closing bell of the last session of last week, slightly above the all-time historical low of 310 HUF/EUR. The zloty lost 1.5% to 4.745 PLZ/EUR, while the Czech koruna lost 0.8% to 28.34 CZK/EUR.

Regional currencies have established historical lows this year following the release of economic information showing that the situation is worsening, as well as concerns with some countries" massive dependency on foreign lending.

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