We test whether the floating exchange rates of the EU New Member States against the euro are determined jointly within the panel VEC framework. We find that the exchange rates of the Czech koruna, the Polish zloty and the Hungarian forint follow the same long-run relationship, in which the real exchange rates are explained by the real interest rates parities and the spreads of the credit default risk premiums. In case of the Romanian leu, the common relationship is rejected, which is likely due to differences in the economic setting. The results confirm that the currency markets of these three countries are closely related, since the appreciation/depreciation of one currency leads to similar movements in the other currencies of the NMS. The estimated misalignments exhibit some common patterns in terms of time spans and percentage values of under/overvaluation.

This paper aims to analyze the impact of public debt on economic growth in eleven EU new member states (NMS) from Central and South-Eastern Europe for the period 2000-2019. More specifically, we investigate if there is evidence of a non-linear (quadratic) relationship in this group of countries. Having in mind different economic and financial development, historical connections, and geographical proximity, we split them into three more homogenous groups: Balkan countries (BAL-4), Baltic countries (B-3), and Visegrad countries (VIS-4). The results of our study in all models indicate a statistically significant non-linear impact of public debt ratios on annual GDP per capita growth rates. The results across all models show a significant non-linear impact of public debt ratios on annual GDP per capita growth rates. Further, the calculated debt-to-GDP turning point, where the positive effect of accumulated public debt inverts into a negative effect, is roughly between 42.7%-58% of GDP, dependent on which sub-group we have analyzed. In general, the research may contribute to a better understanding of the problem of high public debt and its effect on economic activity in the new EU.