European Commission highlights poor state of Czech public finances

The European Commission highlighted on Wednesday the poor state of Czech public finances. It kept the Czech Republic in a group of EU member states with the worst finances due to high deficits and the impacts of the economic crisis. The Czech Republic is in the worst of three groups, alongside the UK, the Netherlands, Ireland, Slovakia and others. The commission noted that any improvement in Czech public finances would require an ambitious consolidation programme to lower its debts and deficits in the coming years, as well as a thorough reform of the social welfare system.

The Czech Republic has relatively low overall debt; however, it is growing fast. This year, the state budget deficit is expected to reach 5.5 percent of gross domestic product.