Page 44 - BNE_magazine_06_2020 Growers

44 I Central Europe bne June 2020
Slovakia saw the region's biggest GDP contraction in Q1 as the car industry was hit by the lockdown.
Most Central, Southeast Europe economies contract in Q1 but outperform eurozone average
general government sector growing the most.”
Neighbouring Czechia was also badly affected by the crisis in Q1, reporting the biggest decrease in GDP since the economic crisis in 2009 at -2.2% y/y and -3.6% q/q.
This was caused mainly by a decrease in external demand and by lower capital formation, shows data released by the Czech Statistics Office (CSO) on May 15. Industrial production saw a record decline of 8.7% y/y in March, while in 1Q20 it decreased by 4.6% y/y.
“Industrial production was heading for a cyclical slowdown already last year and the dynamics did not change much in January and February. However, during March, in response to measures to mitigate the coronavirus outbreak,
a number of companies reduced or suspended their production. Therefore, production in the automotive industry fell by more than a quarter and the nearest subcontractor sectors fell by
a tenth,” said the chairman of the Czech Statistical Office, Marek Rojicek.
In Poland, the performance in quarterly terms was even worse than during the 2008-2009 financial crisis, marking the expected start of a recession with a drop of 0.5%, a flash estimate released by the Central Statistical Office (GUS) on May 15 showed. Meanwhile, GDP grew by a seasonally adjusted 1.6% y/y in the fourth quarter, easing 1.9pp against the adjusted expansion rate recorded in the fourth quarter of 2019.
The reason for the slowdown is clear: the coronavirus pandemic that has kept the Polish economy in lockdown since mid-March. The Law and Justice (PiS) government only began easing some of the restrictions in late April with the process to continue throughout May unless the number of new cases rises again.
GUS does not provide details on the structure of growth but “on the basis of available high-frequency data, we expect a slowdown in both consumption and investment. Net exports, on the other hand, had a positive contribution to GDP
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Statistics offices across most of
the EU members of Central and Southeast Europe have now released estimates of their Q1 GDP growth, which was badly affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and lockdowns introduced during March.
Of the countries that have released data so far, performance ranges from a contraction of 5.4% q/q in Slovakia to growth of 0.3% q/q in Bulgaria and Romania.
Raiffeisen analysts say that the contractions in GDP in the region are “somewhat less than expected”, as most took a smaller hit than the average 3.8% q/q or 3.2% y/y in the eurozone, with the exception of Slovakia, where GDP slumped by -5.4% q/q.
“The data was slightly more positive for several CEE markets than the analyst’s consensus and we expected. With lockdown measures starting in mid- March for many CEE countries, only Q2 data will show the full effect of the anti-coronavirus measures enforced,
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and GDP could drop by around 10% or even more in several countries. In Q1 the first two months were still unaffected
by the crisis in many countries, while retail sales might have profited from panic buying ahead of the lockdowns,” Raiffeisen analysts wrote.
“April PMI (flash estimates in the euro area already this week) will provide the next information on the economies. For the time being, we maintain our economic projections of recessions in CEE in a range of -4 to -8% for 2020.”
Commenting on the situation in CEE’s worst-hit economy, the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic wrote on May 15: “The unfavourable economic development is due to the decline
in value added in key industries, especially in car production and in several service sectors. External demand made a significant contribution to the decreasing GDP, and the dynamics of its year-on-year decline accelerated. Due to the current situation, the growth of domestic demand is insufficient, with final consumption expenditures in the