Consumer spending drives eastern Europe

Vilnius

GROWTH in the European Union's eastern economies have probably accelerated or broadly kept pace in the first three months as a dip in inflation stoked consumer spending. Poland's GDP surged 3.3 per cent from a year earlier, up from 3.1 per cent in the previous quarter, while the Czech Republic's GDP grew 2 per cent compared with 1.4 per cent, Bloomberg surveys showed. The two nations - along with Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Bulgaria - all report GDP data this week.

Hungary and the Czech Republic's retail sales are growing the most since 2008 as shoppers benefit from low oil prices and a quickening recovery in the euro area. Sturdier consumer spending is outweighing damage from the conflict in Ukraine and concern that Greece will abandon the common currency.