Financial instruments used by Polish municipalities in response to the first wave of COVID-19

Abstract

Studies on the influence of COVID-19 on municipalities are scarce, although it was precisely municipalities that stood in the first line of combat. It is important to estimate the negative budgetary consequences of the crisis for municipalities and to detect potential patterns in the application of their anti-crisis financial instruments. Our study reveals that the initial response of Polish municipalities to the pandemic crisis in this area varied depending on their administrative type, the amount of current income per capita and the population size. However, the correlations between the applied income instruments and expenditures and the above factors were rather weak.