Prague - Fresh data on GDP growth of various EU countries are better than forecast, with Germany (1.5 percent growth in 2011 Q1 compared to previous quarter) and France (one percent) constituting an economic power-base of the euro-zone and EU.
The Czech economy grew in the first quarter of 2011 according to analysts' estimates. According to the Czech Statistical Office data, released on Friday, the gross domestic product grew 0.6 percent in the first three months of 2011, compared to the last quarter of 2010. On an annual basis, the GDP grew 2.5 percent.
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According to the statisticians, a fair share of the growth was attributed to the manufacturing industry, which boomed by more than 10 percent in the first quarter, compared to one year earlier.
On the contrary, griculture and construction shrunk in comparison with the first quarter of 2010.
"The good news is that the Czech economy continues its expansion and even accelerated in the first quarter of 2011 compared to the previous one (the quarter-to-quarter growth in the last three months of 2010 was only 0.3 percent). According to the preliminary data, the economy was pulled up above all by the process manufacturing industry, however the data speaks also of a positive development of fixed investments, which could be described as a positive surprise," said Michal Brožka from Raiffeisenbank, commenting on the GDP growth data.
Fast pace? Only temporary
However, Brožka said that the Czech economy is not likely to maintain the pace set in the first quarter. For all 2011, the analyst expects the GDP to grow 1.5 percent, and 2.3 percent in the next year.
On the other hand, an analyst for Citfin, Tomáš Volf, says that in the second quarter the growth of the Czech economy should be influenced by the fast-paced expansion of the German one, which grew the most since the reunification of the country.
"If we consider the delay of the Czech economy after the German one, which is roughly one quarter or half-year, it can be expected that the second quarter will give a better result in the Czech Republic than the beginning of the year," said Volf. Speaking about the "delay", Volf was referring to the fact that it usually takes several months before actual developments and trends (positive or negative) in the German economy start to reflect themselves in the Czech economy, for which Germany is the key, all-important economic partner.
