This report compares the economic performance of four Central European countries, namely Czechia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia (henceforth: CE4 countries). Many authors emphasise the similarities between the V4 countries – sometimes even the former planned economies of CEE –, i.e., the former ‘bloc approach’ is still dominant. However, key economic indicators – GDP, productivity, unemployment, inflation, budget deficit, trade balance, and the structure of export – paint a different picture. From a Hungarian perspective, the better performance of the other three countries – also reflected in their ranking in international scoreboards – is particularly noteworthy.
