Prime Minister: Czech contribution to EU debt crisis scheme likely far lower than expected

Prime Minister Petr Nečas said on Wednesday that the Czech central bank would most likely not channel 3.5 million euro (about 90 billion Czech crowns) through the International Monetary Fund as part of a European Union scheme aimed at fighting the debt crisis in the Eurozone. EU leaders had requested that Prague commit that amount at a summit last month. The Czech contribution –which is in effect a loan – will be “very significantly lower” since the majority of the government are opposed to contributing the sum requested, the prime minister told reporters. The actual amount the Czech Republic is willing to contribute will be announced by the Czech finance minister, Miroslav Kalousek, in a week from now.

At a last-ditch summit in Brussels in December, EU leaders drafted a plan under which European central banks would channel a total of 150 billion euros through the IMF in exchange for fresh pledges of fiscal probity from European governments.

Author: Sarah Borufka