EC lowers Czech GDP estimate
The European Commission on Monday lowered its estimate of Czech GDP growth for 2008 to 4.4 percent, down from a previous forecast of 4.7, made earlier this year. In 2009, the commission expects economic growth to slow down to 3.6 percent. Even so Czech economic growth is expected to remain higher than the average EU growth projected at a mere 0.2 percent next year. The European Commission also predicted that inflation in the Czech Republic would drop dramatically from the estimated 6.6 percent this year to 3.1 percent in 2009 due to lower demand for consumer goods and the strong Czech crown.