Czech economy grows 0.9% in first quarter: official data
PRAGUE, June 9, 2011 (AFP) The Czech economy grew at a seasonally adjusted quarterly pace of 0.9 percent in the first quarter of 2011 after growth of 0.5 percent in the last quarter of 2010, revised official data showed Thursday.
On a 12-month comparison, Czech gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 2.8 percent in the first quarter after a revised full-year growth of 2.2 percent in 2010, the Czech Statistical Office said.
Statisticians revised both the annual and the quarterly growth for the first quarter, up by 0.3 percentage points against the first estimate published in May.
"On the demand side, economic growth was fuelled by foreign trade and a revival in investment activity. On the other hand, spending on household and government consumption decreased," statisticians said.
The ex-communist central European economy heavily dependent on car production was still propelled by the processing industry, they said.
The Czech central bank expects 2011 GDP growth to slow to 1.5 percent amid austerity spending planned by the centre-right cabinet in a bid to bring public finances battered by the global slump back on track.
For 2012, the bank predicts GDP to grow by 2.8 percent.
In a separate set of data, statisticians said on Thursday that Czech consumer prices rose by 0.5 percent in May against April on more expensive food and drinks.
Annual inflation accelerated to 2.0 percent in May from 1.6 percent in April, also on food price increases.
The year-on-year inflation figure is slightly above the central bank's forecast of 1.7-percent consumer price growth.
In May, central bankers voted to keep the key lending rate flat at a record-low 0.75 percent, saying they could see "no obvious inflationary pressures from the Czech economy" and that rates would go up in the last quarter of the year.
But since the bank has said it may raise rates earlier if inflation would rise hand in hand with an economic recovery.
