Prime minister says economic growth could fall by up to two percent in 2009

In the same interview with Hospodářské noviny, Mr Topolánek said that his cabinet was counting upon economic growth falling by up to two percent in 2009. The prime minister said that he was drawing up proposals with a group of financial experts to counter this fall in growth, and that these proposals would be unveiled on February 18. On Sunday, the governor of the Czech National Bank, Zdeněk Tůma also predicted a sharp downturn in the Czech economy this year. He predicted that the economy could be hit by up to 0.3 percent negative growth in 2009.