Baltic slowdown not so serious

TALLINN -- Jan Liden, head of Swedbank has indicated that the expected slowdown of the Baltic economies isn't proceeding entirely in line with earlier predictions.

Speaking to the Reuters news agency, Liden said that Swedbank was still hopeful that a 'soft' landing would be acheievd and ruled out any chance of currency devaluations.

"We expected to see signs of a slowdown earlier than we have seen. So in that respect, maybe it will be harsher, in the sense that it will be more abrupt," Liden said.

"But we believe that the economic growth will be reduced and the lending growth will be less," he added. He was speaking in Estonia while attending a regional development conference.

"A soft landing is what we hope for. I don't think you can see it in the numbers yet, except for, maybe, in Estonia. We might see it in Latvia in the beginning of next a year and the economy will slow down and the imbalances will improve," he concluded.

At the same event Linden's colleague within the Swedbank group, Erkki Raasuke, CEO of Hansabank said that the Baltic states should really be treated as a single market rather than three separate ones.

"We are very similar and should act jointly," he said.

"This is partly an emotional issue, but I believe that we are already getting somewhere. At least our bank has gone to significant lengths in eliminating borders. We have burned some bridges and cannot go back," he said.