Near the front of the EM pack

Third virus waves and the slow vaccine rollout will weigh on near-term growth in the region, but we expect a strong recovery in activity to take place later this year and in 2022. Our forecasts for growth are generally above the consensus and we think the lasting impact of the pandemic will be smaller than in other EM regions. Inflation will remain above central bank’s targets in most countries. We expect interest rate hikes in Russia and Czechia this year, but the prospect of monetary tightening remains some way off in Poland and Israel. Turkey is an exception, where the central bank looks set to embark on an easing cycle, but this will continue to feed into further sharp falls in the lira and high inflation.