on the radar
- Today, Slovenia’s retail sales figures will be published at 10:30 am CET.
- There are no other announcements scheduled for CEE, but Tuesday will be busy in terms of economic indicators.
economic development
The use of artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly gaining popularity. The increase in AI usage in 2025 is quite impressive compared to the previous year (average AI usage increased by 27% in the EU). While all companies of all sizes are leveraging AI technologies, large companies are more likely to systematically use at least one AI technology than midsize or small businesses. In most countries, companies with 250 or more employees have the highest adoption rates. Early findings suggest that AI has the potential to improve productivity and help people get work done faster and more efficiently. In contrast to robotization, AI and other technologies do not automate entire jobs, but only some skills or competencies within a job. For example, AI can provide access to some services (legal aspects, coding) that help expand your business at a relatively low cost. Business growth can create more jobs that wouldn’t necessarily happen otherwise. But the best-performing companies not only outperform the EU average, they appear to be further ahead, suggesting a growing digital divide between more and less advanced companies.
market movements
The development of the EURUSD pair caused the CEE currency to fall against the euro last week. The global geopolitical situation is stable, and this situation is largely reflected in oil prices, which have fallen significantly. This also triggered a positive reaction in the bond markets of Central and Eastern European countries, with 10-year bond yields falling by 10-25 basis points, especially in Hungary. As far as local news is concerned, the political impasse is not yet fully resolved in Romania, but the formation of a minority government is becoming the most likely scenario. The current candidates for prime minister are PSD leader Sorin Grindeanu and PNL/USR/UDMR candidate Siegfried Muresyan. However, it may take longer to reach a political agreement. Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar has declared (after a meeting with Eurogroup President Kyriakos Pierakakis) that Hungary will be able to meet the European Union’s economic standards for euro adoption by 2030.
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