Isolation measures imposed to staunch the spread of the coronavirus thrust central European manufacturing, the region’s main growth engine, into the deepest declines at least since the global economic crisis. As broken supply chains stopped deliveries and consumers in the euro zone ceased buying imported goods, factories east of the former Iron Curtain have ground to a halt.
Purchasing-manager indexes declined more than analysts forecast in the largest economies in the region, with Poland falling to 42.4 and the Czech Republic declining to 41.3. Hungary’s PMI, which is calculated under different methodology, was also worse than expected, plummeting to a record-low 29.1, from 50.3 in February.