News

The Czech National Bank on Thursday revised its economic growth forecast for 2014 down to 2.5 from its previous July estimate of 2.9 percent. Next year’s growth which it previously estimated at 3.0 percent was also revised down to 2.5 percent. In 2016 the central bank predicts a growth of 2.8 percent. At a press briefing in Prague the bank’s governor, Miroslav Singer, confirmed that the forex interventions launched last year would not let up before 2016.

During talks with Palestinian leaders in Ramallah on Thursday Czech Foreign Minister Lubomír Zaorálek condemned the continuing acts of violence between Israelis and Palestinians and urged the two sides to resume their peace-talks on a two-state set up. Mr. Zaorálek said that acts of violence, similar to the one that killed one person and wounded three others in Jerusalem on Wednesday, only led to an escalation of tension. At the same time he said acts of humiliation on the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem only stirred up fresh violence. On a visit to the Aida Palestinian refugee camp in Bethlehem, the Czech foreign minister described it as a “ticking bomb”. The Czech Republic has not officially recognized the Palestinian state and maintains that a lasting solution to the conflict can only come through peace talks between the two sides.

The Czech Republic’s foreign trade balance showed a surplus of 19.3 billion crowns in September. Economists say the news is encouraging and proves that the slide in August of this year was a temporary problem caused by seasonal factors and the fact that the automobile producer Škoda, one of the main driving forces in foreign trade, was in the process of launching production of its new model Fabia.

Justice Minister Helena Válkova has said the case in which a deranged woman attacked students in a secondary school in Ždár was the fault of the court which approved her release from a mental institution. Minister Válková said that the present legislation provided adequate means of reducing the risk of such incidents but this required a responsible attitude on the part of courts which should request a medical opinion from more than one expert before reaching a decision. The minister requested an inspection into how courts proceed in the case of psychiatric patients and said the results showed a lack of unified procedure.