After 15 years of economic upheavals, from the European debt crisis to the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the European economy appears set to underperform in 2024. But are appearances deceiving?
First, Central and East European economies have been outperforming Western Europe for some time now. According to Eurostat, Poland has overtaken both Greece and Portugal in terms of real GDP per capita, with countries like Romania on track to achieve similar milestones within the next five years. While Hungary has grappled with exchange-rate fluctuations and a 0.8 per cent contraction in 2023, reflecting Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s attempts to curb the central bank’s independence, the country is expected to return to solid growth in 2024 and 2025.
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