Slovakia remains East/Central Europe’s best performing economy, as nearly all of Western Europe finds itself engulfed in a global financial crisis. Ryszard Petru, a Polish analyst interviewed by the Associated Press, observed that Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Poland are all “fundamentally sound” when it comes to economic stability and growth.

Petru predicted that the average economic growth for these countries will stand at around 4 percent, with Slovakia leading the way.

The economic analyst believes that after a period of impressive growth that lasted for nearly a decade, some emerging markets in Eastern Europe are in a strong position to weather the current financial storm.

Slovakia, Czech Republic and Poland will probably see a slowdown in terms of economic growth in the next several months, but Petru maintains that the economy will remain “robust” during this challenging period.

There is no doubt that Slovakia is Eastern Europe’s undisputed leader when it comes to economic growth and stability.

This relatively small country is set to adopt the euro as of 1 January 2009, while the Czech Republic’s finance minister has confirmed that Prague will likely delay the adoption of the common European currency.

Hungary seems to be the weakest link at the moment, as it was revealed earlier this week that the country may be the only European Union member state to qualify for loans offered by the International Monetary Fund.

Although Hungary’s banking sector remains stable, and while demand for real estate is still strong in Budapest, the country’s national currency, the Forint, tumbled badly in trading this week, both against the euro and the US dollar.