In its new forecast, the Czech National Bank (ČNB) has improved its estimate of economic growth this year but worsened its estimate for next year. The bank expects the Czech economy to grow by 2.2 percent this year and by 3.8 percent next year.
In its previous November forecast, the Czech National Bank expected growth of 1.7 percent this year and 4.2 percent in 2022.
Last year, according to Tuesday’s preliminary data from the Czech Statistical Office, the Czech economy fell sharply due to the coronavirus crisis as GDP dropped by 5.6 percent. However, this number was much lower than previous estimates by economists, the Ministry of Finance, and the Czech National Bank.
According to the Czech National Bank, inflation should reach 2 percent in 2021 and 2.2 percent next year. In the previous November forecast, the central bank estimated average inflation at 2.3 percent this year and 2 percent in the next year.
At the same time, the new forecast expects the Czech koruna exchange rate to get stronger. While this year, the exchange rate could get to 25.80 Czech korunas per euro, in 2022, the koruna could strengthen further to an average of 24.90 korunas per euro.
Title image: The main building of the Czech National Bank (www.cnb.cz)
