Finance Ministry ups economic growth forecast

The Czech Finance Ministry slightly upped on Thursday its forecast for economic growth this year from an original 1.5 percent to 1.6 percent. But the ministry also cut its prediction of next year’s growth by 0.1 percentage points to 2.3 percent. Ministry officials said the improving economic conditions abroad should outweigh the restrictive effects on growth from domestic cost-cutting. The ministry expects the jobless rate to drop to 7.6 percent by the end of this year.