Czech Statistical Office: Czech economy contracted by 0.6 percent in Q4

Recovery from the global economic crisis has proven weaker than expected, official data has shown: the Czech economy contracted at an adjusted quarterly pace of 0.6 percent in the final quarter of 2009. The unexpected development, reported by the Czech Statistical Office, followed two quarterly increases which pulled the country out of recession. But the latest result, analysts say, showed that full recovery will be slow as well as vulnerable. At an annual rate, the Czech GDP contracted by 4.3 percent in 2009 - faster than predicted by the finance ministry or the central bank. The finance ministry currently expects the economy to rebound with 1.3-percent annual growth this year and a 2.6-percent pick-up in 2011.