UniCredit lowers this year's growth forecasts for Baltics

UniCredit Group lowered its growth outlooks for the three Baltic economies of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, citing weakening consumer demand and accelerating inflation, Bloomberg reports. UniCredit changed Estonia's growth forecast to 0.1 percent for this year from a previous estimate of 2.6 percent released in May. Latvia's forecast for 2008 was changed to 2 percent from an earlier estimate of 3.2 percent, Lithuanian growth will probably slow to 4.7 percent this year, compared with a previous estimate of 5.3 percent. Latvia's economic outlook has deteriorated quite significantly since the beginning of the year on mounting macroeconomic tensions, tightening credit conditions and an overheated real estate market, the report said. Signs that the economy may be heading towards much broader correction have increased following... [read full story]