Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) continues to provide a mixed, occasionally surprising, story in the run-up to and now during the third quarter of 2025. Poland’s economy became the runaway success story, growing substantially, while the rest of the region—the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, and the Czech Republic—all suffered greatly. With countries poised to produce their last inflation numbers ahead of a brewing hawkish wave, currency traders and foreign exchange speculators are keenly following this trend.
Poland stood out with an impressive 0.8% q-o-q growth in the third quarter. At the same time, it boasted an eye-popping 3.7% year-on-year growth, the fastest rate since 2022. This strong performance points to the resilience of the Polish economy despite the continued regional volatility. At the same time, today at 10 AM CET, the country is set to publish its final inflation figures. This data would provide much-needed perspective on the wider economic environment.
Economic Performance Across the Region
Of those, Czechia continued to rack up the good economic news with a quarterly GDP growth rate of 0.7% q/q and 2.7% y/y. Recently, the Czech central bank made headlines for its purchase of €1 million ($1 million) in cryptocurrencies. This move represents its first step into the realm of digital assets. The first step with this move is to produce a testing ground for the central bank. They have a plan to assess the overall performance of the portfolio in two to three years. These types of initiatives are a sign that the Czech Republic is finally making steps in realizing the potential for financial technology innovations.
Hungary’s economy did not recover on a quarter-to-quarter basis but only held up with a slight increase of 0.7% y/y. Such meager progress begs the question—what is holding back stronger economic momentum across the country? Meanwhile, Slovakia reported a GDP growth of 0.9% y/y and 0.3% q/q in the third quarter, reflecting a stable but slow recovery. Most significantly, Slovakia’s record high inflation peak fell to 3.7% y/y in October indicating a potential settling of high price levels.
Challenges in Serbia and Romania
Serbia’s economic performance fell short of projections. GDP growth was 2% year-over-year, and market expectations were for a 2.4% year-over-year increase. The Serbian central bank jumped in the other direction, reducing its policy rate from 6% to 5.75%. Serbia currently endures an economic crisis. It is wrestling with emerging energy shortages stemming from U.S. sanctions on its only refiner, NIS. This scenario highlights the precarious line between progress and the geopolitical forces the country is up against.
Romania’s economy just contracted 0.2% qoq. It proved surprisingly resilient with 1.6% annualized growth in the third quarter. This mixed record points to troubling signs when considering the sustainability of Romania’s path of growth during shifting economic fortunes. Analysts will be watching closely, with Romania set to release its inflation data later today.
Upcoming Data Releases
As inflation data looms large on the horizon, Croatia is scheduled to release its final inflation numbers at 11 AM CET today, while Slovenia will publish its GDP data at 10:30 AM CET. Analysts are particularly interested in how these figures will reflect the ongoing economic challenges and recovery efforts across the region.
Yet the divergent economic paths of CEE countries starkly illustrate the unevenness of recovery—even in the non-pandemic times we hope to find ourselves in soon. Policymakers will need to navigate these challenges carefully to foster sustainable growth while addressing the pressing issues of inflation and energy security.