Government seeks to reassure public about global financial crisis

Key leaders in the Czech Republic have been trying to reassure the public that the country will not succumb to any major shockwaves caused by the financial crisis in the US and around the world. The Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek, the governor of the Czech National Bank Zdeněk Tůma and Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek gave a joint press conference on Thursday designed to address these concerns specifically. All three men stated that they believed that the economy and banking sector are stable and that the savings of bank customers are safe. Commenting on the state of affairs, Mr Kalousek said that the good times were over, but that the times now would be normal rather than negative. The Czech economy is forecast to grow by 3.4 percent next year.