The effects of the global financial and economic crisis on the ten Eastern EU member states, according to the EU10 regular economic report of the World Bank.

The World Bank report says that while the anti-crisis measures in the leading global economies are kicking in, the crisis in Bulgarian, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia is deepening.

According to World Bank, the combined unemployment of the ten new EU member will rise from 6,5% in 2008 to 10,4% in 2010, which means that a total of about 5 million people in those nations would be unemployed.
The rise in unemployment is predicted to affect the economic recovery and household demand.

The World Bank predicts that economic activity in the ten eastern members of the European Union will contract 3% in 2009, and will stagnate around 0% in 2010. The Bank recommends that the governments of EU10 restructure their public finances to alleviate the issues.

The World Bank report also points out that Bulgaria had already seen a 3,5% decline in its GDP in the first quarter of 2009 year-on-year. The Bank recommends reasonable fiscal and income policies, and boosting the structural reforms to increase the competitiveness of Bulgarian companies.