Tuesday, June 8, 2021 at 14:30-16:00 Vienna time (CET)

Panelists
Ms. Patricia Wruuck, Economist, European Investment Bank
Mr. Aron Gereben, Principal Advisor, European Investment Bank
Mr. Andy Jobst, Senior Economist, European Department, IMF
Mr. Priit Potisepp, Head of the Strategy Unit, Estonian State Budget Department

Moderator
Mr. Laurent Millischer, Economist, JVI

Countries in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe (CESEE) have seen their prosperity increase remarkably since they started their transition to market economies. After a deep contraction in the early 1990s, growth has soared and per capita income in most countries in the region more than doubled between 1996 and 2017 despite the Global Financial Crisis. The COVID-19 crisis has interrupted this trend, reversing up to three years of accumulated growth.

The recovery from the COVID-19 crisis and the sizeable fiscal spending programs that support it are an excellent opportunity to address some of CESEE’s known structural issues. With vaccination progressing throughout the region and lockdowns gradually lifted, strong growth is expected in 2021. This rebound, however, will also be supported by a number of programs. Chief among these is the European Union’s €675 billion Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), a central pillar of NextGenerationEU. The Recovery and Resilience Plans financed under the RRF are expected to include reforms and public investment projects that can help set CESEE economies on a course of sustainable growth.

This webinar will discuss recovery and growth strategies for CESEE. Recent analyses by the EIB (“Towards a new growth model in CESEE”) and the IMF (“Infrastructure in CESEE”) have investigated some of the economic issues the region faces and put forward recommendations on how to shape the recovery. These publications will be presented and discussed together with the perspective of one country in the region, Estonia, and its Recovery and Resilience Plan.