The Czech economy will grow by 0.7 percent, according to European Commission, which is more than can be said (by the EC) about the rest of Europe. But not everyone agrees with that prediction, including some highly place local economists. The Czech National Bank, for example is much more skeptical, predicting stagnation in its January analysis of the prospects for the country’s economy. The Czech Ministry of Finance is somewhere in between predicting a rather negligible 0.2 percent pace to economi growth, according to the news server iDnes.cz.
Much will hinge on how far things slide in Western Europe. In its most recent report, the EC predicts that overall, its previous hope for 0.5 percent growth has been downgraded to a distinctly less encouraging 0.3 percent contraction. Italy and Spain are heading into recession, says the EC, while Germany, a key trading partner for the Czech Republic, will see growth of just 0.6 percent, slightly off the pace of 0.8 percent predicted by the EC as recently as last autumn.
