As part of the fight against the coronavirus, many firms have decided to temporarily cease their production to ensure the health of their employees.

The first online panel of Property Forum took place yesterday, where six experts discussed the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on the real estate market in CEE. Our panelists discussed who could be the biggest winners and losers of the current situation, what to expect in the logistics and retail markets and how the current spread of remote working may affect the office market and coworking operators. They also explained the possible impact of the coronavirus crisis on investments and ongoing and planned developments.

The government of Slovakia is opening some shops that have been closed for the past two weeks, while the country's parliament will debate and possibly pass the cabinet’s proposals to help companies and the self-employed. We asked Andrej Leontiev LL.M., Partner at Taylor Wessing to comment on the aid package.

Governments continue to come up with measures to help stabilize the economy. Property Forum collected the latest efforts by CEE governments to rescue businesses and individuals affected by the coronavirus crisis.

As a result of the coronavirus outbreak, most CEE/SEE countries have introduced similar moratoria provisions to the Hungarian regulations, but there are several countries that have not yet taken this step. With the help of Dr. Gergely Szalóki, Partner at Schönherr Hetényi Law Firm, we provide an overview of the regulation of these regions' countries in respect of moratoria of bank loans.

Governments in CEE countries have introduced further measures to ease the impact of the coronavirus crisis on the economy. Property Forum summarised the latest actions.

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.

Colliers International has launched a microsite to provide insight and recommendations for business during the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Hungary-based developers Futureal Group and Cordia have decided to donate €700,000 (HUF 250 million) to the fight against COVID-19. The directors of the company will decide on the usage of the funds shortly,