Abstract
Measures taken by the public administration to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic have led to drastic consequences for the economy. The full identification of its effects is hindered due to the delay in publishing the results of public statistics. The use of financial reports prepared by self-government authorities of all municipalities in Poland made it possible to obtain preemptive information in relation to the public statistics regarding the impact of COVID-19-related limitations on the energy expenditures incurred by local government units (LGUs), as well as an assessment of to what extent the LGUs had rationalized the energy consumption. By contrast, data from reports of energy companies made it possible to determine the impact of restrictions arising from the pandemic on the amount of energy sold and revenues from sales made by these companies. The analyses use indexes of the dynamics of changes in energy prices as well as indexes of the dynamics of changes in energy expenditures incurred by LGUs. Additionally, distributions of these indexes for the populations of municipalities are analyzed. To assess the effect of economic activity on energy expenditures incurred by LGUs, classification trees are utilized. It is established that the total production and sales of energy in Poland, in volume, in each quarter of 2020 were lower than in the corresponding period of the preceding year. However, as a result of an increase in energy prices by approximately 25%, the sales of electric power generating companies, in amounts, were higher in 2020 than in 2019. The increase in energy prices was also a cause of slightly increased total expenditures for purchasing energy in LGUs in Poland, which increased by 2.15% in 2020 compared to 2019. However, a substantial diversity in expenditure indexes was observed. That concerned both total expenditures and expenditures within individual sections of the budgets of municipalities.
Highlights
The emergence of COVID-19 forced the public authorities of countries worldwide to put into action measures to mitigate the negative impacts of the spread of the virus [1,2,3,4].To contain the spread of the infection, governments have introduced a series of social distancing measures, along with lockdowns and shutting down businesses
The introduction of measures to reduce the spread of the epidemic has resulted in a very large reduction in activities in different sectors of the economy, which has translated into a reduction in energy consumption
In 2020, there were large cumulative losses in the analyzed corporate groups of energy companies. This may result in an increase in energy prices in Poland in the future; Total expenditure under Article 426 ‘Purchase of energy’ in self-government units in Poland in 2020 increased by 2.15% compared to 2019
Summary
The emergence of COVID-19 forced the public authorities of countries worldwide to put into action measures to mitigate the negative impacts of the spread of the virus [1,2,3,4].To contain the spread of the infection, governments have introduced a series of social distancing measures, along with lockdowns and shutting down businesses. The emergence of COVID-19 forced the public authorities of countries worldwide to put into action measures to mitigate the negative impacts of the spread of the virus [1,2,3,4]. The wide use of containment measures by the public administrations of almost all countries has had far-reaching consequences for the global economy [5,6]. Understanding the effects of governments’ actions on the economy and international trade would be helpful in defining an adequate economic policy framework, which would limit the negative effects of restrictions on the economy [5]. Due to diminishing production and reduced demand in certain product groups, governments’ interventions have had a significant impact both on the national economy and on international trade
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