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,…
On Wednesday 16 October, the Chamber of Deputies decided that the Czech Fiscal Council member Jan Pavel will continue in his position through to 2026. 144 of the 174 lawmakers present voted in favour of his appointment, which had been proposed by the Czech National Bank. In his educational and professional work, Professor Jan Pavel…
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,…
On Wednesday 4 September, the Czech Fiscal Council issued its regular quarterly statement with respect to the development of public sector finances and the set-up of fiscal and budgetary policy. Among other things, it states that, in Q2 of this year, the Czech economy noted a year-on-year increase by 2.7%, which is, in principle, in…
At its meeting on Thursday, 29 August 2019, the Committee for Budgetary Forecasts considered the macroeconomic forecast for July (and its August update) and August fiscal forecast issued by the Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic. The Committee saw both forecasts as realistic in terms of how likely they are to be fulfilled in…
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…
Even though the Czech Republic continues to be one of the least indebted countries in the European Union and, in the medium term, its public finance will continue to be in a relatively good condition, when viewed in terms of long-term sustainability, significant changes will have to be made. If the present expense and tax…
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,…
On Thursday, 25 April, the National Budget Council held its first roundtable—a discussion between economists from the public, academic and private sectors. The aim was to exchange opinions on certain topics that the National Budget Council examines when assessing the sustainability of public finances. These were primarily areas that economists in the Czech Republic and…
Public sector debt in the Czech Republic amounted to 32.7 percent of GDP last year, which made it the fourth lowest of all European Union countries. Based on the most recent Eurostat data, only Estonia (8.4%), Luxemburg (21.4%), and Bulgaria (22.6%) are doing better, leaving Greece with a debt of 181.1% of GDP at the…
