Record amount of Czech households increased their wealth, shows study

Nearly a third of Czech households saw their financial wealth grow last year, a study published by GfK reveals. The market researcher’s director, Tomáš Drtina, told journalists at a press conference that this was the largest wealth increase since the study began to be conducted more than twenty years ago. Households expect their income to continue growing in 2019 as well.

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The combined effects of a well-performing economy and low unemployment are having a positive impact on the wealth of many Czech households. An increase in salaries for public servants has also showed itself as beneficial, according to analysts interviewed by the Czech News Agency.

Tomáš Drtina, whose company GfK, has been conducting regular research into the purchasing power of Czech households for the European Commission since the mid-1990s said at a press conference that nearly one third of Czechs experienced an improvement in their financial situation in 2018. The GfK study, which was conducted in February, also registered that 13 percent of households saw a decrease in their financial wealth, the lowest number since the company started researching the data for the European Commission in the mid-1990s.

However, 35 percent have timid expectations about Czech economic growth this year, a 20 percent increase in scepticism compared to data from 2018.

Mr. Drtina says the study also revealed that two-thirds of households expect to be able to save money in 2019.

More than half of those surveyed believe now is the right time to purchase furniture and white-goods.

The national average salary in the Czech Republic has been continually increasing since 2014.

Last year, it grew by 8.1 percent to CZK 31,885 a month, according to data from the Czech Statistics Agency.

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Nevertheless, two-thirds of Czechs still earn below the national average.

Great disparities exist between the capital, where the average salary reached CZK 41,851 in the fourth-quarter of 2018, and the regions, where the average wage during the same time period fluctuated around the CZK 30,000 mark.

A survey conducted by the polling agency STEM/MARK for ING, revealed that Czechs are also spending less on alcohol, sweets and hobbies.

Many households also save money by taking advantage of sales and reducing restaurant visits.

Only three percent of the survey’s 500 respondents said that avoiding excess expenditure money plays no role in their shopping.

A GfK study published in the second-half of 2018 ranked the Czech Republic 23rd in terms of purchasing power among 42 European countries. Among the former Eastern Bloc countries, the Czech Republic is ranked third overall, behind Slovenia and Estonia.