The Opening of Eastern Europe to the West

East-West trade in the new sense (excluding the former GDR, but including Yugoslavia as trading partner) expanded only moderately in 1990, by about 3 percent in volume. A noteworthy development were the sizeable export gains of the reform countries for technical manufactures. In 1991 and 1992 East-West trade (particularly the exchange with Eastern Europe) is likely to gain some momentum. Credit rating of Eastern countries deteriorated markedly in 1990 although the debt burden itself rose by a mere $ 8 billion (to a total of $ 160 billion) mainly due to the exchange rate effect.