The external competitiveness of the New Member States

The present paper analyses the export performance of the New Member States in terms of export growth and market share in the period of 2000-2009. Also, the main factors that prompt the external competitiveness in these economies are determined. The results show that the most dynamic New Member States (NMS) in terms of market share and export volumes are Poland and the Czech Republic followed at some distance by Hungary and Romania. While Hungary and the Czech Republic have improved or maintained their price competitiveness throughout the analysed period, a few countries like Romania and Lithuania suffered a serious deterioration in this area due to increases in labour costs. After the onset of the international financial and economic crisis price competitiveness has been partially restored. In the case of non-price competitiveness, the most dynamic NMS is the Czech Republic. Romania is ranked quite low in this area and has experienced small improvements in the analysed period.