The spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus causing the disease called COVID-19 entails economic consequences for the economy of the Czech Republic that have been made worse by government measures designed to counter the spread of the virus. The expected economic collapse of the Czech economy is historically unprecedented and exceeds the impacts of the global…
On Tuesday 4 February, the Ministry of Finance issued a new macroeconomic prediction. It expects the country’s real GDP to grow by 2% compared to 2019. The growth estimate remains unchanged, compared to the previous prediction published in November. “Our view of the development of the Czech economy has remained principally unchanged. We estimate that…
The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and the Committee for Fair Pensions presented the basic principles of the pension system reform. One of the fundamental building blocks of the proposal is the splitting of the existing first pension system pillar in two: the zeroth and the first pillar. The zeroth pillar is to ensure…
Pension expenditures in the Czech Republic are the eighth lowest in the EU, in relation to gross domestic product. Whereas the EU28 states expended an average of 9.2% of GDP on pensions in 2017, it was only 6.9% in this country. In discussions about pension system change, opinions can be heard, based on this data,…
The Chamber of Deputies approved the draft 2020 state budget Wednesday night. A total of 108 were in favour of the Act, which plans on a deficit of 40 billion crowns, like the current year. Total income of the state budget is to amount to 1,578.1 billion crowns, with planned expenditure amounting to 1,618.1 billion. …
The Czech Fiscal Council, along with the European Commission’s Representation in the Czech Republic, organised a professional conference on the role of independent fiscal councils in EU countries, which was held on Monday 18 November. The words of introduction by the Czech Fiscal Council Chairman, Eva Zamrazilová, and deputy head of the Representation of the…
On 29 October 2019, the Austrian Fiscal Advisory Council (known as the “Fiskalrat”) organised a workshop on fiscal multipliers and government transfers. Put in simplified terms, the issue was how to most precisely measure the impact of fiscal policy (e.g., changes in public institution sector expenditure or tax changes) on gross domestic product. The meeting,…
Future pension reform could include the division of the existing first (pay-as-you-go) pillar of the pension system, into two branches – solidary and merit-based branches. The Fair Pensions Committee agreed unilaterally at its meeting on Friday 11 October that it will work further on the concept and discuss all the related changes in parameters at…
Experts in the forecasting of budgetary income and expenditures met on 19 September in Brussels at a conference organised by the European Commission. Representing the Czech Republic at this event, entitled DG ECFIN Country Desk Workshop on Fiscal Forecasting, were two analysts of the Czech Fiscal Council Office, Pavel Morda and Ondřej Šíma. They learned,…
Czech GDP will grow by 2.5% this year. This is according to the Ministry of Finance’s macroeconomic prediction, published on Wednesday 31 July. Compared to April’s quarterly prediction, the Ministry of Finance has raised its growth prediction by 0.1%. However, the ministry is also predicting a fall in growth of 0.1% in GDP next year….
During the first three months of this year, Czech debt increased by 1.4% to 35.8% of GDP. According to the Ministry of Finance, the main reason for this rise was an attempt to acquire funds on favourable terms for the planned repayments of treasury bonds this year. Despite this rise, The Czech Republic is still…
The annual mission of the International Monetary Fund to the Czech Republic was carried out between 30 April and 14 May 2019. Aiming to independently evaluate each IMF member state, the programme of the two-week visit included the first ever discussion with members of the Czech Fiscal Council. This was because in its concluding statement,…
