Policy-makers face the harsh dilemma of having to mitigate an economic slowdown and revenue shortfalls, in addition to a rapidly growing infection rate. The biggest challenge for the next couple of months will be to determine how long lockdown measures should be kept in place.

The Bucharest economy stands as one of the most insulated service centres in Europe to the negative fallout related to the COVID-19 outbreak. This is largely due to Bucharest’s heavy reliance on IT&C activities as well as scientific and professional services, on par with European capitals like Dublin, Paris and London.  That said, Romania’s high integration in global value chains means that it will face significant headwinds given negative developments in the global economy.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to cause multiple disruptions to the world’s industries and economies and this is also true for many CEE currencies. Those countries that have not adopted the Euro, or are not pegged to it, have each seen a ca. 10% depreciation in currency value during the period February to March 2020. The Romanian Leu is the exception which has depreciated just 1%, largely due to central bank intervention, Colliers reports in its CEE Special Insights Series.

Austria’s economic growth curve is set to follow a V-shaped course in the wake of the coronavirus and the containment measures implemented, according to Bank Austria, a member of UniCredit Group.

The German federal government plans to set up an economic stabilization fund (Wirtschaftsstabilisierungsfonds, WSF) to prevent companies from going bankrupting during the coronavirus crisis, according to the new draft bill of the finance minister.

Property Forum collected the latest measures taken in CEE countries to mitigate the negative effects of the coronavirus outbreak.

Property Forum provides a comprehensive summary of the most important coronavirus-related measures that have been introduced in CEE countries. All of them have implemented a number of restrictive measures to slow down the spread of the virus and several governments have announced plans to help companies hit hardest by the coronavirus crisis and to stimulate the economy.