Overview

The Central and Eastern European (CEE) region enjoys geographic advantages and has cemented manufacturing prowess, especially in automotive, food-and-agro, textiles, aerospace and defense, plastics, and metals sub-sectors.

In a period defined by geopolitical tensions, shifting supply chains and trade relations, and reshoring and nearshoring priorities of global conglomerates, the CEE nations will become the investment hotspots for Western European and global investors catering to the wider European consumer base.  

The region is expected to grow at 2.6% in 2024 following a muted real GDP growth of 0.8% in 2023 amidst elevated price pressures and poor export performance. Steady fiscal support for digitalization, infrastructure, and green transition coupled with receding price pressures will drive growth recovery this year onwards. Real GDP growth will average 3.0% between 2024-2030, with CEE’s nominal GDP forecast to reach $2.9 trillion by the end of this decade.

This macroeconomic growth content provides strategic analytics on regional megatrends and ranks CEE economies as per their exposure to medium and long-term risks.

Longer-term macroeconomic transformations, in terms of the silver economy expansion, infrastructure and digitalization investments, and the region’s potential to become the European manufacturing hotbed have also been outlined, which will help business executives leverage long-term shifts for driving profitable investments.

• Which opportunities and regional megatrends will impact the growth potential of different countries in this region?
• How can your team leverage country-wise economic analytics and regional risk analyses for growth?
• How can decision-makers leverage the country-level growth analysis for Poland, Czechia, Romania, and Hungary to outline geographic expansion strategies?