Czech economy shows biggest GDP growth in Europe
Statistical office confirms big jump in revised figures for Q2
Prague, Aug 28 (ČTK) — The Czech Statistical Office (ČSÚ) confirmed the strong 4.4 percent annual growth of the economy in Q2 in its revised estimate made public today, and improved the preliminary estimate of a quarter-on-quarter rise from 0.9 to 1 percent.
The CzechRepublic shows the most significant growth in the whole of Europe that mirrors the favorable trends in the economy, analysts have said.
The annual expansion in Q2 was the biggest since the fourth quarter of 2007 which saw a rise 5.3 percent.
“The fast growth in Q2 pushed the country up to 85.7 percent of the EU average in terms of per capita GDP based on purchasing power parity (PPP),” said Deloitte chief economist David Marek.
In the rankings of European countries this year, the CzechRepublic is doing better than Cyprus and Malta. Among richer economies, Italy and Spain are the closest countries to it, said Marek.
The economy may rise by 4.3 percent this year, he added.
“Given the excellent first-half performance and expected inflow of EU money, we predict a 4.5 percent expansion for this year,” said Komercni banka analyst Viktor Zeisel.
“Next year will see a slowdown to 2.7 percent due to a significant drop in revenues from the structural funds and ensuing cuts in investments,” Zeisel said.
The economic growth was evenly distributed among all economic activities of the domestic economy, the ČSÚ said.
Manufacturing increased by 7.0 percent on the year and construction was 3.1 percent higher. All of the economic activities in services grew markedly as well. Trade, transport and accommodation increased by 2.8 percent, information and communication activities by 4.4 percent and professional, scientific, technical and administrative activities by 5.9 percent on an annual basis, statisticians said.
GDP growth was driven by household consumption (one third contribution) and investment activities (two thirds contribution) in a qtr/qtr comparison.
Contribution to the GDP growth was distributed more evenly in annual terms, the CSU said.
Household consumption increased by 3.1 percent on the year and by 0.7 percent on the quarter.
Investment activity significantly increased in the second quarter, with fixed capital formation rising by an annualised 5.9 percent and by 3.5 percent from the previous quarter. The yr/yr growth in fixed capital was due, above all, to investments into buildings and structures, however, investments into machinery and equipment grew markedly as well, the CSU said.
The gross value added (GVA) increased by 3.8 percent on the year and by 0.9 percent compared with Q1.
“The (economic) development proves that the current government's decision to alleviate the restrictive fiscal policy measures has been correct,” said Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka.
“The data implies that the Czech population is gradually losing fears about the future and its demand for goods and services is on the rise,” Sobotka said.
The BIG Stories
Search for a word in the Macmillan Dictionaries Online simply by double-clicking on a word on the page.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please leave a comment-- or suggestions, particularly of topics and places you'd like to see covered