The EU Recovery and Resilience Facility as a Tool for Macroeconomic Stabilization
Kalyuzhna N. H., Shchelkunov I. V.

Kalyuzhna, Nataliya H., and Shchelkunov, Igor V. (2025) “The EU Recovery and Resilience Facility as a Tool for Macroeconomic Stabilization.” The Problems of Economy 3:19–27.
https://doi.org/10.32983/2222-0712-2025-3-19-27

Section: World economy and international relations

UDC 338.22:339.923

Abstract:
In modern conditions of global instability and increasing challenges, most countries are increasingly aware that effective counteraction to systemic threats requires not only internal reforms but also coordinated collective actions at the supranational level. A successful example of implementing a collective framework for ensuring the resilience of national economies in crisis conditions is the European initiative «Recovery and Resilience Facility» (RRF), introduced to mitigate the economic and social consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic. The funding approach within the RRF involves an uneven distribution of funds among the EU Member States, which has led to the hypothesis that RRF funding is aimed at strengthening the economic resilience of less successful countries compared to more developed European economies. The confirmation of this hypothesis will indicate the presence of a macroeconomic stabilization effect and the substantiation for the disproportionate allocation of RRF funds in favor of economically vulnerable EU countries. Based on the multiple regression model, the hypothesis regarding the disproportionality in the distribution of RRF funding in favor of less affluent EU countries has been confirmed, with the aim of supporting their economic resilience in the post-COVID crisis period. Statistical confirmation of the hypothesis was achieved by assessing the relationship between the volume of funds as a percentage of the countries’ GDP and socioeconomic indicators on which the volume of RRF financing was determined. The results of the parameter calculations of the multiple regression and subsequent optimization of the model by removing statistically insignificant variables confirmed the significant influence on the volume of financial support from such socioeconomic indicators as GDP per capita and the unemployment rate. The direction of the influence of independent variables on the outcome (both reverse and direct) confirms that funding under the RRF initiative is characterized by asymmetry and is primarily aimed at financially supporting the less economically successful countries of the European Union. The asymmetric approach to funding allows us to regard the RRF as an instrument for macroeconomic stabilization, aimed at supporting the vulnerable EU Member States and a successful example of implementing a collective format for ensuring the resilience of national economies.

Keywords: post-crisis recovery, national economic resilience, structural reforms, macroeconomic stabilization, economic integration, disproportionate funding, asymmetries in economic development.

Fig.: 3. Tabl.: 2. Bibl.: 15.

Kalyuzhna Nataliya H. – Doctor of Sciences (Economics), Professor, Professor, Department of World Economy, State University of Trade and Economics (19 Kіoto Str., Kyiv, 02156, Ukraine)
Email: n.kalyuzhna@knute.edu.ua
Shchelkunov Igor V. – Postgraduate Student, Department of World Economics, State University of Trade and Economics (19 Kіoto Str., Kyiv, 02156, Ukraine)
Email: i.shchelkunov@knute.edu.ua

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