The Influence of COVID-19 on Exports and Imports European Cases during 2020-2021

The COVID-19 health crisis generated an economic crisis at global level and consequently determined numerous economic disturbances at different levels. The study of the economic impact of the health crisis at various levels became legitimate in order to identify the influences of the health crisis on the economic activity, among others. This paper concentrates on the study of the impact of the COVID-19 health crisis on international trade with the focus on two countries. The regression method was used to measure the impact of the COVID-19 burden (number of cases and number of deaths) on the international trade flows of two Central and Eastern European countries from European Union, namely Romania and Poland. The analysis includes the first two years of the pandemics, 2020-2021. The results of the analysis illustrate that the COVID-19 burden had an effect on international trade in the two countries. The import flows were more affected than export flows by COVID-19 in both countries in the analyzed period. However, the influences differed in the two countries, with international trade in Poland being more affected by COVID-19 than that in Romania.