Czech economy is among the most open not only in Europe, but also in the world. A marked rise in its openness since the second half of the 1990s is visible when one uses the ratio of exports/imports to GDP, which exceeded 75% in 2010, as an openness indicator. This dynamic rise was triggered by the liberalisation of foreign trade and the introduction of currency convertibility as key transformation measures. These changes gradually led to a fundamental shift in the geographical structure of Czech foreign trade (away from Eastern markets and towards advanced Western countries) as well as to profound changes in its goods structure.

European Union countries currently account for 75% of Czech foreign trade turnover. The Czech Republic’s main trading partner is Germany, which accounts for about 30% of total Czech foreign trade turnover. As evidenced by the fading global economic crisis, the Czech Republic’s economic links with EU countries, and especially with Germany, are so strong today that an economic downturn in these countries (and their main trading partners) inevitably passes through sooner or later to the Czech economy via the export channel and a decline in external demand.

Given the high sensitivity of the Czech economy to the external environment, economic developments in our main trading partner countries should be closely monitored and regularly assessed.

This document aims to pool information about the latest predictions and outlooks of international institutions, selected central banks and Consensus Economics for the main economic areas of the world (the euro area, the USA and China) and for the German economy as the Czech Republic’s most important trading partner. The global economic outlook is complemented with an analysis of a selected topical issue from the world economy.

Unless indicated otherwise, the presented data¹⁾ are taken from the official forecasts of Consensus Forecasts (CF), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Commission (EC), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Federal Reserve System (Fed), the European Central Bank (ECB), Deutsche Bundesbank (DBB) and the Bank of Finland Institute for Economies in Transition (BOFIT).

2012

• Global Economic Outlook - May 2012 (pdf, 471 kB)
• Global Economic Outlook - April 2012 (pdf, 389 kB)
• Global Economic Outlook - March 2012 (pdf, 383 kB)
• Global Economic Outlook - February 2012 (pdf, 458 kB)
• Global Economic Outlook - January 2012 (pdf, 416 kB)

2011

• Global Economic Outlook - December 2011 (pdf, 413 kB)
• Global Economic Outlook - November 2011 (pdf, 474 kB)
• Global Economic Outlook - October 2011 (pdf, 329 kB)
• Global Economic Outlook - September 2011 (pdf, 507 kB)
• Global Economic Outlook - August 2011 (pdf, 789 kB)
• Global Economic Outlook - July 2011 (pdf, 383 kB)
• Global Economic Outlook - June 2011 (pdf, 327 kB)
• Global Economic Outlook - May 2011 (pdf, 680 kB)
• Global Economic Outlook - April 2011 (pdf, 391 kB)
• Global Economic Outlook - March 2011 (pdf, 511 kB)
• Global Economic Outlook - February 2011 (pdf, 667 kB)
• Global Economic Outlook - January 2011 (pdf, 872 kB)

¹⁾ The CNB’s External Economic Relations Division guarantees that these data are up-to-date, but cannot vouch for their correctness and quality.