Czech National Bank Says Economy Should Return To "Visible Growth" In 2H2023

The Czech National Bank released its comments on Q2 GDP data released this morning. The data were slightly better than projected by CNB staff in the summer macroeconomic forecast.

• The central bank said that the data "indicate that the Czech economy has already emerged from a shallow recession. Although households continue to face a decline in their real income, their consumption fell slightly less in Q2 than expected by the CNB."
• "The CNB’s summer forecast expects the Czech economy to be broadly flat this year. Following subdued performance in the first half of 2023, the economy will return to visible growth in the second half of the year."
• "According to the forecast, the economy will grow by more than 2% next year despite the government’s fiscal consolidation efforts, which will partly dampen growth mainly in household consumption and, to a lesser extent, in investment."