Czech Republic: Economy expands at faster pace in Q4
The economy expanded 3.6% in seasonally-adjusted year-on-year terms in the fourth quarter, following Q3’s 3.3% increase, supported by progress on the vaccination front and easing restrictions. Meanwhile, output increased 0.9% on a seasonally-adjusted quarter-on-quarter basis in Q4. The expansion followed the 1.6% rise recorded in Q3. In 2021 overall, the economy expanded 3.3%, rebounding from the 5.8% contraction recorded in 2020.
Although a detailed breakdown is yet to be released, household and capital spending made positive contributions to year-on-year growth in Q4, while external demand fueled the quarter-on-quarter expansion.
More detailed national accounts data for Q4 will be released on 1 March.
Commenting on the growth outlook for the current quarter, Jiri Polansky, analyst at Erste Bank, noted:
“In the first quarter of this year, we expect only very modest quarter-on-quarter GDP growth, mainly due to a negative impacts of high energy prices, high CNB rates (and a stronger koruna), less expansionary fiscal policy and the ongoing problems with a lack of semiconductors. If the problems with missing semiconductors in the automotive industry increase, we could not rule out a slight qoq decrease in GDP in Q1 2022. However, in year-on-year terms, GDP will grow at a relatively high rate, which will be affected by the base effect (more precisely, the lockdown during Q1 2021).”