The article presents selected macroeconomic data for the economies of five Central European countries: Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and three Baltic states: Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. As regards their fiscal and monetary policies, the countries can be classified into two groups: Central European countries with laxer fiscal policies and monetary policies focused on the inflation target, and the Baltic states, with more restricted fiscal policies and FX strategies implemented in the monetary policies.

The differences in the economic policy are related to a different economic situation in those countries. The Baltic countries enjoy a stable fiscal situation but the fast growth of domestic demand significantly increases the current account deficit to a level that raises concern. On the other hand, the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary have to tackle the problem of budget deficit. Developments common to most of the countries include the increasing dynamics of the economic growth, combined with a high unemployment rate and a low inflation.