Economics

East EU Heads Toward Worst Economic Slump Since Communism

  • Growth slowed in Poland, Hungary, Romania as Czech GDP shrank
  • Officials, companies eye economic rebound at year-end

A pedestrian walks down a deserted shopping street in central Budapest, Hungary, on March 31. 

Photographer: Akos Stiller/Bloomberg
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Damage from the coronavirus dented the European Union’s fastest-growing region in the first quarter, with most of the bloc’s eastern members tumbling toward the worst recession since the fall of the Iron Curtain.