Little room for manoeuvre

Although financial markets have recovered a little this month, the activity data from the region has continued to soften. Yet in pretty much every country, policymakers have less scope to stimulate growth than they did during the 2008-09 recession. Indeed, of the major central banks in the region, only Poland has scope to cut interest rates significantly - and even here above-target inflation is likely to rule out any easing before the start of next year.