The economy in the eastern EU slowed in the third quarter as consumers suffered from soaring energy prices and rising interest rates, Bloomberg reported.

Poland's gross domestic product fell to 3.5 percent from July to September, down from 5.5 percent in the previous quarter. Output in Romania and Hungary fell to 4% from 5.1% and 6.5%, respectively.

As the eurozone nears recession, Eastern Europe has been hit particularly hard by double-digit inflation, forcing central banks to begin a series of rapid rate hikes since last year.

According to European Commission forecasts, the three countries, along with the Czech Republic, are heavily dependent on trade with 19 eurozone countries, where the economy is now contracting and will continue to do so during the first quarter of next year.

Hungary now faces the prospect of two consecutive quarterly output declines. The Czech Ministry of Finance said the economy has probably already entered a shallow recession.

The near-term outlook is rather bleak, Janos Nagy wrote, an analyst at Hungary's Erste Bank in Budapest. The coming quarters could see a further slowdown in economic activity.

A yearlong campaign of higher interest rates has led to a drop in demand for mortgages in Poland. The central bank last week left borrowing costs unchanged until its second meeting, even as inflation accelerated to its fastest pace in 26 years.

Czech central bank governor Ales Michl called for limiting wage growth and urged the government to commit to tighter fiscal spending after refraining from raising rates further in the last three meetings.

But there were also surprises. Romania avoided a quarterly contraction and grew 1.3% in the third quarter, easing fears of imminent contraction. Central bank governor Mugur Isarescu expects that domestic demand combined with better utilization of EU funds next year will support the economy and help avoid a technical recession.