The rise of the East

Eastern Europe’s economic growth picked up pace last quarter as a recovery strengthened in the euro area, which buys the bulk of the region’s locally made goods, and consumers spent more.

Romania

Romania’s expansion beat forecasts by the biggest margin as gross domestic product jumped 5.2 percent . On average, GDP growth in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia quickened to 2.5 percent, the fastest expansion in 18 months, from 1.8 percent in the third quarter.

The better-than-estimated performance prompted Capital to raise its GDP-growth forecasts for the Czech Republic and Hungary, both to 2.5 percent from 2 percent previously, and for Romania by 1 percentage point to 3 percent.

The Romanian leu is the third-best performer against the euro and the dollar in the last month among 24 developing-nation currencies tracked by Bloomberg. The Czech koruna and the Polish zloty are both in the top 10 for that period.

The pace of growth in the European Union’s second-poorest member was the quickest since 2008 on higher orders for cars produced in the country by Renault SA (RNO) and Ford Motor Co

Poland

Poland’s economy also accelerated for a third quarter, though less quickly than economists estimated, the only east European country among six that reported GDP today to trail forecasts.

The central bank’s relaxed monetary policy may help GDP grow at more than twice last year’s 1.6 percent in 2014, according to Cezary Chrapek, an economist at Citigroup Inc.’s Polish unit.

Czech Republic

The Czech economy expanded at the fastest pace in more than six years in the fourth quarter after the central bank intervened to weaken the koruna, with GDP rising 1.6 percent from the previous three months after advancing 0.2 percent between July and September. The country’s two-week-old cabinet is seeking to increase spending to further help the rebound.

Bulgaria

Bulgaria’s economy expanded 1 percent from the previous year.

Hungary

Hungarian GDP rose 2.7 percent from a year earlier in the fourth quarter.