According to data released on Friday by the Czech Statistical Office, the Czech economy is in a technical recession. In the fourth quarter of last year, the economy contracted by 0.4% every quarter.
However, year-on-year gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 0.3%, and for the whole of last year, it rose by 2.5%. These figures are 0.1 percentage points better than the Statistical Office reported at the beginning of March. According to statistics, Czech households’ real incomes and expenses also decreased in the fourth quarter and throughout last year.
Economists define a recession as a seasonally adjusted quarterly decline in real GDP in at least two consecutive periods. In the third quarter of last year, the economy contracted by 0.3% compared to the previous quarter.