Since the Eastern enlargement of the EU in 2004, Austria has lost global export market shares. At the same time exports to Central, East and Southeast Europe (CESEE) have gained a significant portion of Austria's total exports. Moreover, in recent years Austrian GDP growth has slowed down and...

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a vision to revive the ancient 'Silk Road' by means of massive infrastructure investments throughout Eurasia and Africa, was first presented by China's President Xi Jinping in 2013. China has identified the region of Central East and Southeast Europe (CESEE)...

The Draghi Report recommended actions to secure the long-term EU competitive position but did not discuss the challenges related to specific countries or regional groups, including those of Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. While CEE economies remain focused on manufacturing,...

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has triggered a humanitarian, economic, financial and political crisis that will reverberate across Europe. In this Policy Note we analyse the short- and medium-term implications of the conflict. We find that the most severe economic and financial impact will be...

The economies of Vienna and Bratislava have followed quite different development paths over the last decades. While Vienna's population increased by about 20% within two decades, Bratislava's population mostly stagnated. However, when measured in GDP per capita at purchasing power parties,...

Die Wirtschaften von Wien und Bratislava haben sich in den letzten Jahrzehnten sehr unterschiedlich entwickelt. Die Bevölkerung Wiens ist um etwa 20% angestiegen, jene von Bratislava hat dagegen stagniert. Nimmt man allerdings das BIP pro Kopf zu Kaufkraftparitäten als Maß, so hat das...

Despite the formal absence of sanctions, gas trade between Russia and the EU has effectively collapsed over the past three and a half years. This has been the outcome of several factors: the EU strategy of reducing dependence on Russian gas, Russia's own supply cuts, physical damage to the...

Trade in services was overshadowed by trade in goods in the Brexit debate, undeservingly so as services account for almost half of the UK cross-border exports and the EU is a major market for UK services exporters. Leaving the EU Single Market in services will cause increased regulatory costs of...

Exploring the determinants of credit risk has gained importance in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, which caused a sharp increase in non-performing loans (NPLs) in Central, East and Southeast Europe. In this note we first analyse the post-crisis trends in NPLs comparing five...

It remains unclear whether or not Russia will actually invade Ukraine, and if it does so, what form this invasion will take. In this note, we outline two broad scenarios: targeted strikes by Russia in Ukraine accompanied by further non-military destabilisation efforts, or a full invasion, and we...