Year-on-year growth in consumer prices in the Czech Republic decreased to 2.6% in May 2024 from the April four-month high of 2.9%. According to the Czech Statistical Office (ČSÚ), this was mainly due to a significant reduction in food prices.

Poland's investment attractiveness is growing. For the first time since 2015, Poland was at the top of the global investor confidence ranking. Poland was ranked 23rd in the ranking of countries that will attract the most foreign direct investment (FDI) in the next three years, according to a ranking by the consulting company Kearney.

The unemployment rate, after seasonal adjustment, was 2.9% in Poland in February, as in January - Eurostat reported. The number of unemployed people in February amounted to 517,000, compared to 523,000 in the previous month. Poland is once again in second place in the European Union in terms of low unemployment.

Inflation in Poland stood at 2.8 percent in year-on-year terms in February, the country’s Central Statistical Office (GUS) announced on Friday. The price growth rate in Poland has therefore dropped exceptionally significantly, considering the fact that the consumer price index (CPI) stood at 6.2% in December 2023. 

The Hungarian forint is record cheap compared to the Polish zloty. The Hungarian currency is also losing against other major currencies, including the euro and the US dollar. Photo by Meszárcsek Gergely/Pixabay (J)

In January 2024, inflation in Poland amounted to 3.9% year-on-year, as reported by the Central Statistical Office on Thursday. The best result in almost three years turned out to be better than economists expected, as they predicted a reading of 4.1%.

At its February meeting, the Monetary Policy Council decided to maintain the benchmark interest rate at the current level of 5.75% for the fourth consecutive months. The decision was in line with market consensus. The Polish central bank. Photo by Rafał Guz/PAP

Poland ranks second among the countries with the lowest unemployment rate among all European Union countries (in December 2023 it was 2.7 percent). The Czech Republic is in third place with a result of 2.8 percent. According to Eurostat, both countries are also among the countries with the lowest youth unemployment.

The unemployment rate in Hungary rose to 4.4% in October-December 2023, up from 3.9% in the corresponding period of the previous year. According to KSH the highest unemployment rate was in Northern Hungary (7.3%), and the lowest in Central Transdanubia (2.2%).

Economists at UniCredit expect that the economies of Central and Eastern Europe will achieve growth of around 3 percent in 2024 and 2025, with similar growth rates in the Western Balkans. “The growth rate of the CEE region is close to potential this year, while in Western Europe, at 0.5%, it is below potential”, commented Dan Bucsa, UniCredit’s Chief CEE Economist during The Central and Eastern European Forum, held in Vienna. 

Suzuki Motor has suspended production at a Hungarian car plant for seven days through January 21.

The National Bank of Hungary (Magyar Nemzeti Bank) reduced its base rate by 75bp to 10.75% at its December rate-setting meeting. Today's reduction of the base interest rate was already the third in 2023. The scale of the reduction was the same as at the previous rate-setting meeting in November.