Abstract:

The sudden outbreak of the COVID-19 global epidemic had a negative impact both on developing and developed economies, including changes in business performance and reduction of key macroeconomic indicators. Counteracting the virus transmission involved interventions that have severely struck different sectors of national economies. As a consequence of undertaking preventative measures – including a hard lockdown – many countries face recession and economic slowdown deriving from descent in economic activity, decline in production and uncertainty in the financial markets (Wojcieszek-Zbierska et al. 2020). The analysis of the socio-economic effects resulting from the introduction of epidemic restrictions draws attention to the issue of rural communities.