This paper estimates the different impact on economic growth of
intra trade within EU and extra trade outside the EU for five countries
from Central and Eastern Europe (Poland, Hungary, Slovenia, Slovakia
and the Czech Republic). These countries have gained several benefits from
their EU membership since 2004 by exploiting their huge potential. A main
characteristic of the regional integration, such as the EU is the reduction/
removal of the tariff and non-tariff barriers, in order to increase trade among
countries that can lead to faster economic growth. By separating the extra-EU
trade flows from intra-EU trade flows and using cross-section fixed method,
panel least squares for the period 2003-2017, this paper shows that trade
within EU has significantly higher effect on the growth per capita, than trade
with countries outside the EU in the sample CEE countries.
