By Gunter Deuber, RBI, Zrinka Zivkovic Matijevic, Raiffeisenbank Croatia and Emil Kalchev, Raiffeisenbank Bulgaria Finally, the accession of Bulgaria and Croatia to ERM II and ECB-led Banking Union was completed last week. The local community is happy to finally belong more to the core Europe. At the EU […]
By Gunter Deuber and Casper Engelen, RBI In the last weeks, we have reported the daily number of infections rising in Bosnia and plateauing in Poland on this blog. Unfortunately, these uninspiring developments are now mirrored in many other CEE countries. This upsurge might threaten previous successes […]
By Ivona Zametica, Raiffeisen BANK (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Gunter Deuber and Casper Engelen, RBI When Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) was first exposed to the coronavirus pandemic the country reacted with swift and decisive containment measures. The containment measures imposed were among the strictest in CEE, which resulted in a […]
By Dorota Strauch, RBI in Poland, and Casper Engelen, RBI | Outbreak stopped but new infections plateauing Similarly to other CE countries Poland reacted fast to the spread of the pandemic in Europe. It shut its borders at the end of March and ordered to close schools, shops, bars and restaurants within less than […]
By Zrinka Zivkovic Matijevic, Raiffeisenbank (Croatia), Gunter Deuber and Casper Engelen, RBI Tentative pandemic recovery When the coronavirus first emerged in Croatia, the country was seemingly hit stronger, with daily infections at a higher rate than its SEE peers. However, Croatia and most of its peers were quick […]
By Andreas Schwabe, RBI and Stanislav Murashov Raiffeisenbank in Russia | Russia entered the year 2020 on a positive note in line with our slightly upbeat global macro-scenario: The Russian economy had gotten accustomed to the sanction regime in place since 2015, substantial new US sanctions have not materialised during 2019 and the economically and […]
By Zoltan Török, Raiffeisen Bank Zrt. Hungary, Helena Horska, Raiffeisenbank a.s. Czech Republic, Tibor Lörincz, Tatrabank, Slovakia and Gunter Deuber RBI, Vienna From a broader European perspective, the region Central Europe (CE) did fairly well in containing the COVID-19 spreading, some countries were among the least affected European countries […]
By Juraj Valachy, Tibor Lőrincz, Tatrabank, Slovakia and Gunter Deuber, RBI Vienna | The public sector in Slovakia – as in many neighboring countries – is not always considered efficient. However, the government’s response during the corona crisis is seen very positive. This holds true for both the […]
by Sebastian Petric and Lucas Darius Konrad, RBI| Reinhart and Rogoff famously distinguish between four types of crises in their book “This Time Is Different”, namely international debt and banking crises, inflation, and currency crashes and debasements. We analyse the question on the interrelation between banking crises and FX […]
By Gunter Deuber and Matthias Reith, RBI Vienna After a phase of exponential spreading of COVID-19 infections in Austria, lasting several weeks in March, the curve has significantly flattened since the beginning of April. Now it is only linear. More importantly, in the last week, the trend has been clearly confirmed that there are significantly […]
By Zoltan Török, Raiffeisen Bank Zrt. Hungary, Gunter Deuber and Matthias Reith, RBI, Vienna | What was initially more a ‘Chinese problem’ and then an ‘Italian drama’ has rapidly transformed into ‘everybody’s problem’. Hungarian authorities – alongside with other CEE governments – were moving in an early stage […]
By Helena Horska, Raiffeisenbank a.s. Czech Republic, Gunter Deuber and Matthias Reith, RBI, Vienna | COVID-19 infections are spreading globally and exponentially. In developed countries, incl. the Czech Republic, a crisis of healthcare systems seems imminent. As a result of containment measures and growing effects of the virus, we also see an existential economic crisis […]