Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on March 11, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 24, 2026
IMF advises Central Europe to reform trade policies to counter slowing global trade growth and remove EU trade barriers.
(Removes reference to tariffs in headline, first paragraph and second bullet point to clarify IMF's comments referred to recent history of slowing trade growth only)
By Gergely Szakacs
BUDAPEST (Reuters) -Central Europe's export-dependent economies face risks from slowing world trade growth, which could be mitigated with reforms and the removal of remaining trade barriers in the EU, the International Monetary Fund said.
Central European nations are among the European Union's most reliant on foreign trade, with exports as a share of output ranging from 92% in Slovakia to 69% in the Czech Republic, based on 2023 Eurostat data, with only Romania's 39% below the bloc's average.
U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to impose 25% tariffs on imports from the bloc is likely to hurt growth in the export-oriented region, though Poland, the region's largest economy, is seen as less exposed, S&P Global said last week.
"In recent decades, the CEE (Central and Eastern Europe) region has benefited substantially from rising participation in global value chains," the IMF's Senior Regional Representative for Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe, Geoff Gottlieb told Reuters.
"However, this model is facing headwinds because global trade growth has started to slow, falling from 6% in 2000-19 to 3% in 2022-24," he said in an emailed response to Reuters questions.
Gottlieb said central European nations should focus on what was in their control, pursuing reforms to boost productivity and raise living standards, while pushing for the elimination of "significant" existing trade barriers within the EU.
He also said efforts were needed to ensure that central European companies face no unnecessary costs when seeking to compete abroad, adding that any emerging industrial policy should be coordinated at the EU level.
A November 2024 IMF survey showed the main barriers included poor border infrastructure, procurement rules or the lack of harmonised rules within the bloc, with the services sector suffering from even higher trade barriers.
"Continued efforts towards a deeper single market would support firm growth by lifting constraints related to market size," it said.
(Reporting by Gergely SzakacsEditing by Tomasz Janowski and Jon Boyle)
Central Europe's export-dependent economies face risks from slowing world trade growth, which could be mitigated with reforms and the removal of remaining trade barriers in the EU.
Central European nations are highly reliant on foreign trade, with exports as a share of output ranging from 92% in Slovakia to 69% in the Czech Republic.
The IMF suggests that Central European nations should focus on reforms to boost productivity and raise living standards while eliminating significant trade barriers.
The main barriers include poor border infrastructure, procurement rules, and the lack of harmonized rules within the EU, particularly affecting the services sector.
Global trade growth has started to slow, falling from 6% in the period from 2000 to 2019 to an estimated 3% from 2022 to 2024.
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