The pace of reforms in East European countries members of the EU slowed down, World Bank (WB) said in a recent report.

These countries failed taking advantage of their increased economic growth and improving public financing, Dnevnik daily reported. WB’s expectations are that the growth rate of eight out of the 10 East European countries which joined the EU in 2004 and of the newest EU members Bulgaria and Romania will decrease. Only Slovakia and Poland will be exception of this tendency.The countries did not use their economic growth to finish reforms and cope with their budget deficit. The report said that only Bulgaria and Estonia have sufficiently tightened their fiscal policies in 2006.Only Hungary and Poland will likely experience positive changes in 2007, the report said. More ambitious fiscal policy was needed in Latvia while Bulgaria and Romania could also hardly afford to loosen their fiscal policy in 2007.