News

The Czech Republic had a trade deficit of 700 million crowns (34.5 million dollars) in July, registering a negative figure for the first time this year, the Czech Statistical Office announced on Tuesday. Traditional strong export earnings from cars and other transport equipment failed to outweigh higher imports of other manufactured goods, the office said.

The Czech Republic's state budget for 2008 is expected to have a deficit of 70.8 billion crowns, or 3.5 billion U.S. dollars, the Finance Ministry said on Monday. The deficit should account for 2.95 percent of the budget, which falls within the three percent limit set by the Maastricht criteria for the adoption of the euro.

The deficit in 2008 should be lower than in the previous two years as it reflects the changes incorporated in the fiscal reform proposed by the government and passed by the Chamber of Deputies in August. The expenditures of the state should rise by 66.5 billion crowns, while the state income is expected to be higher by about 87 billion crowns.

Monday was the first day of the new school year for about 1.4 million children attending elementary and secondary schools throughout the Czech Republic. The 2007/08 school year also sees a change to the syllabi of elementary schools in the country. From now on, each school is responsible for its own curriculum. Monday is also the tenth anniversary of the revival of Jewish education in the Czech Republic. The sole Czech Jewish school was founded ten years ago in Prague.

Social welfare benefits amounting to 73 million crowns (or more than 3.5 million U.S. dollars) was abused last year, the weekly Profit reported. Inspections carried out by Labour Offices in the Czech Republic revealed that in 2006, social benefits were illegitimately drawn in more than 34,000 cases, most of them being child allowances. One of the goals of the fiscal reform recently approved by the lower house is to reduce the abuse of social benefits, some of which should be replaced by the so-called 'negative tax'.