Foreign Direct Investment in European and Eastern European Countries in the Face of COVID-19 and the Russian-Ukraine War

Abstract

The global shocks of COVID-19 and the Ukraine war on FDI inflows in European countries, particularly Eastern Europe, have been subjects of a serious debate among EU policymakers. This study assesses the level of impact of the two global shocks on FDI in 39 European countries (ECs) and 20 Eastern European countries (EECs) from 2020 Q1 to 2022 Q4. For the comparative analysis, a static panel regression is used. Our findings demonstrate that variations in the levels of stringency measures related to COVID-19 in individual countries are significantly associated with increased FDI inflows. This suggests that investors will increase investment in countries with stricter measures to limit crises. While variations in COVID-19 total cases are associated with increased FDI inflows in Europe but with decreased FDI inflows in Eastern Europe, we find that the crisis may have created new opportunities or incentives for foreign investors in Europe compared to Eastern Europe.