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…
At its extraordinary meeting of 1 April 2020, the Government of the Czech Republic approved a bill amending Act No. 23/2017 Coll., on budgetary responsibility rules (hereinafter referred to as the “Act”). The substance of the proposal is a dramatic increase of the maximum admissible structural deficit values for 2021-2027, from 1% of GDP stated…
The Czech Fiscal Council is keeping a close eye on the constantly changing situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and on the measures being adopted in relation to it, not only domestically, but also abroad. We then evaluate that information, in particular with a view to the possible impact of those measures on the Czech…
Below, you can find commentary of the Chairman of the Czech Fiscal Council, Eva Zamrazilová. The text was first published in a special supplement of the Banking monthly magazine entitled Top Finance (Bankovnictví, vol. 1/2020). Developments abroad will continue to be essential to the Czech economy in 2020. In 2019, the global economy was weakened…
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…
A member of the Czech Fiscal Council Jan Pavel will carry on in office for another six years. After his re-election by the Chamber of Deputies at the suggestion of the Czech National Bank last October, he was sworn in on Thursday 23 January 2020, by the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Radek Vondráček,…
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,…
In 2019, the state’s finances ended up with a deficit of 28.5 billion crowns, said Finance Minister Alena Schillerová, at a press conference today. The approved budget planned on a deficit of 40 billion crowns. The better-than-expected result was due primarily to non-tax and capital revenues, which were above plan by more than 38 billion…
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. …
On Wednesday 4 December, the Czech Fiscal Council (CFC) issued its regular quarterly opinion on the development of public sector finances and the set-up of fiscal and budgetary policy. Among other things, it points to problematic aspects in the approval of the 2020 government budget, as the budget bill counts on certain income, the attainment…
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…
