Heterogenous performance of CEE since the start of the war

There are many economic releases scheduled throughout the week. Among the most important are central bank meeting in Hungary and 4Q24 GDP growth and structure in several countries. Today, we look at the economic expansion of the region since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine as exactly three years ago Russia invaded Ukraine. Although the economic performance of CEE countries is quite heterogenous (Croatia gained as much as 12%, while cumulative growth in Hungary since 4Q21 reached only 0.4%), the average growth of the region outpaced the growth of the whole EU and the Eurozone. Since the outbreak of the war, the region expanded by 5.1% on average, which is almost twice as much as the Eurozone. However, according to a different estimate by the Kiel Institute, GDP would have been higher if it had not been for the war. The biggest economic shock was, however, unprecedented inflation increases. The price level has shifted visibly up as inflation was double digit in the years following the war.