Economy

We are slowly but surely approaching the mark of a year and a half since Russia launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. During this time the necessity to track direct and indirect damage caused by it has become both a priority and an enormous challenge for numerous Ukrainian and international organizations. One thing is already clear - we will be doing the math long after the war is over.

You might be familiar with a popular phrase often used jokingly «The patient is more dead than alive». However, when used as an economic diagnosis for Ukraine, it is no laughing matter. Today\'s destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP) is making an already very tough situation a lot worse for a number of reasons.

In 2015, the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party won the elections, promising a significant new social support program. In March 2016, with a majority in the parliament, PiS introduced the \"Family 500+\" program, which provided an additional payment of PLN 500 per child per month. Initially, the program was for a second and subsequent child in a family, but later it was extended to include the first child as well.

A study by the Pestel Institute and the Construction Research Institute ARGE caused a stir at the beginning of the year. According to calculations, a housing shortage of over 700,000 units could occur in Germany during this year. This would be the largest housing deficit in over twenty years.

On May 14, during the Law and Justice (PiS) convention the election promises were made. Will these promises lead to prolongation of the PiS rule in Poland? There are the specific program announcements presented by Jarosław Kaczyński, and the most important is: 800+ in place of 500+ from 2024.

The Bulgarian government banned the imports of twenty agricultural goods from Ukraine. This act and the related arguments for restricting free trade supported by the government, some politicians, media outlets, and interested businesses, show why the Institute for Market Economics has been debunking economic illusions and providing answers, in times of poor knowledge breeding poor policies, for more than 30 years.

It is no surprise that the annual address of President Vladimir Putin to the Russian people featured a call for self-sufficiency, the closing of the national economy, and catering to all needs only with internal resources. Even though the statements of foreign leaders are not directly linked to the Bulgarian context, such ideas can find their ground at home too, especially in the context of election campaigns.

At least once a year Eurostat confirms through fresh data that Bulgaria is the poorest nation in the EU. More specifically, we are talking about comparisons of GDP per capita according to purchasing power parity.

The narrative of excess profits that recently sparked in public discussions in Lithuania was not accidental. Initially, business companies had been suspected of profiting from inflation. Then suspicions of undeserved profits hit banks. And here we are – digesting a proposal from the government to impose  a special windfall tax on banks.

In light of record-high price rises, inflation is a term that comes up a lot. For a long period of time, it had a slightly different meaning. Inflation was primarily used to describe a rapid increase in the quantity of money. It is not difficult to understand the link between money and prices.