(ANSA) - BELGRADE, JANUARY 9 - The World Bank has forecasted a slight slowdown of the economic growth in several countries in Central- and Eastern Europe in 2020.

In the new World Bank's Global Economic Prospects report the organization said that Bulgarian economy will grow by 3.0% in 2020, compared to 3.6% in 2019, by 2.6% in Croatia (2.9% last year), 3.0% in Hungary (from 4.9% in 2019), 3.6% in Poland (from 4.3% in 2019) and 3.4% in Romania (from 3.9% in 2019).

The economies of the countries in the Western Balkans should instead grow at a relatively faster rate this year compared to 2019, World Bank estimates suggest. Albania will grow by 3.4% in 2020 (from 2.9% last year), Bosnia and Herzegovina by 3.4% (it was 3.1% in 2019), Kosovo by 4.2% (from 4.0% in 2019), Montenegro by 3.1% (from 3.0% last year) and North Macedonia by 3.2% in 2020 (the GDP growth in 2019 was 3.1%, according to World Bank estimates). Serbia, the largest economy in the Western Balkans, will grow by 3.9% in 2020, from 3.3% in 2019, data from the report show. However, the World Bank has lowered its projections regarding the 2020 economic growth for several countries in the region compared to a previous report, including Albania (-0.3% compared to the June 2019 forecasts), Bosnia and Herzegovina (-0.5% compared to the previous report), Kosovo (-0.3%), Serbia (-0.1%). (ANSA).