National Bank governor predicts second sharp Czech economic downturn later this year

The Governor of the Czech National Bank, Zdeněk Tůma, has said that he expects there to be a second sharp economic downturn in the second half of this year. Speaking on Czech Television on Sunday, Mr Tůma said that the Czech economy had already suffered one such downturn at the beginning of this year. On Thursday, the National Bank revised its predictions for economic growth this year. Instead of the 2.9 percent growth it predicted two months ago, the bank said it was prepared for the economy to shrink by 0.3 percent.