INFLATION

The Czech National Bank (ČNB) board decided to lower its inflation target to 2 percent from 3 percent as of January 2010, ČNB Governor Zdeněk Tůma announced March 8. Tůma said the change is due to a completed economic transformation and low inflationary expectations. He added the new inflation target does not change the interest rate outlook for the coming period.

The Czech Central Securities Registry (SCP), which maintains the accounts of almost 2 million shareholders, made a net profit of 49 million Kč ($228,430) in 2006 after 41.9 million Kč a year earlier. SCP’s sales fell to 374 million Kč from 396 million Kč in the year before. The number of people with accounts at SCP fell 135,000 to about 1.9 million last year.

The Czech Republic’s current account closed last year with a 133.8 billion Kč gap, the ČNB announced March 8. The current account is the sum of net sales from trade in goods and services, net factor income (such as interest payments from abroad) and net unilateral transfers from abroad.

Czech exporters have lost up to 25 percent of their revenues because of a strong crown in the past five years, said Jiří Grund, chairman of the Czech Association of Exporters, March 6. In 2006, Czech companies exported goods worth 2.1 billion Kč, 14.6 percent growth against the year before.

Czech foreign trade posted an 11 billion Kč surplus in January, the Czech Statistical Office (ČSÚ) said March 7. Imports grew faster than exports after six months. Preliminary data indicate export growth of 13.8 percent and import growth reaching 15.5 percent.

The average gross monthly wage increased 6.5 percent to 20,211 Kč last year, the ČSÚ reported. The average wage in the business sphere rose 1,287 Kč to 20,333 Kč while wages in the nonbusiness sphere increased by 1,009 Kč to 19,784 Kč.

Members of the Czech Leasing and Financial Association raised the volume of leasing of movables 6 percent year on year to 106.4 billion Kč in 2006. The companies provided loans worth 36.6 billion Kč, growth of 13 percent. The Czech leasing market is the 14th largest in Europe and the largest among Europe’s new EU member states.

Austria’s Raiffeisenbank launched 10 new certificates and warrants on the Prague Stock Exchange March 5, expanding the fast-growing portfolio of derivatives offered on the Prague stock market. Raiffeisenbank began offering certificates on the shares of power giant ČEZ and telecommunications company Telefónica O2, which are among the most traded on the market in the long run.

The country’s income from tourism in foreign currencies reached an equivalent of more than 113 billion Kč last year, growth of 1.1 percent against 2005. Last year’s income was the sixth-highest since 1993. Tourism income in foreign currencies was the highest in 1998, when it reached 126 billion Kč.