The business climate in central and eastern Europe waned this fall as foreign direct investors became more pessimistic about the region's economic outlook, according to the Thomson Reuters & OeKB CEE Business Climate index.

The business climate index has reached the lowest level in the past couple of years, lowering to 17, compared to July's 30. The largest drop has been registered in Hungary and Slovakia.

Investors have biggest confidence in Russia, which has an index 41, down by ten index points from July, followed by Poland with 38, also down by 10 index points.

"General results show that following the 2008-2009 economic crisis, difficult times are ahead again for central and eastern European countries", said the OeKB bank.

Thomson Reuters & OeKB Central European Business Climate Index is based on quarterly surveys of 400 international companies with regional headquarters in Austria, which manage 1,400 affiliate companies in 19 countries in central and eastern Europe.