The central banks of the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Poland, Romania and Slovakia have issued a joint statement defending their economies.

They said that recent warnings about their economies were "misleading".

Eastern European countries have come under scrutiny in recent weeks amid fears about their economic prospects and reliance on foreign debt.

The countries' currencies and stock markets have also fallen sharply as the downturn has intensified.

Mixed picture

Hungary's central bank later said it supported the statement issued by it counterparts.

The central banks urged investors to look at the prospects of individual countries and not assume that Eastern Europe was a "homogenous region".

Better-off countries like Czech Republic and Poland feel that they are unfairly lumped together with places such as Hungary or Latvia, which have been particularly hard hit.

They expressed concern at the warnings made recently made by credit ratings agencies and other bodies, saying it could undermine financial stability in the region.

"The published information accompanying these initiatives is often simplified and misleading," the statement said.

In February, Moody's warned that economic conditions in the region would hit local subsidiaries of major western banks.

Last week, the region received a 24.5bn euro ($31bn; £21.8bn) rescue package from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the World Bank.

Source: BBC