Key facts
*  Currency: Czech korun    £1=30.03 koruny, €1=25.97 koruny (July 2013)
*  GDP per capita: $35,500 (2017 est)
*  Inflation: 3.2% (Sept 2020)
*  Unemployment: 3.8% (Sept 2020)

General:  Until the 2008 world wide recession the Republic achieved annual growth of over 6% per annum in the three preceding years. Growth has been led by exports to the EU and especially Germany. Much of the economy has been privatised including the banks and telecommunications.

When western Europe and Germany fell into recession in late 2008, demand for Czech goods plunged, leading to a significant decline in industrial production and exports. As a result, real GDP fell 4.7% in 2009.  Between the end of 2009 and 2011 GDP slowly recovered. In 2012, however, the economy fell into a recession due to a slump in external demand.

The former Czechoslovakia had a long tradition of strength in engineering industries, especially motor vehicles and defence equipment.  Today the auto industry and its suppliers remain the largest single industry, accounting for nearly 24% of Czech manufacturing. The Czech Republic produced more than a million cars for the first time in 2010, over 80% of which were exported.

Industry and exports
*  Today’s Czech Republic, with Volkswagen-owned Škoda production plants and assembly plants owned by Toyota-Peugeot-Citroën and Hyundai, and local producers, produces over one million cars each year.
*  Other important industries are glass, coal, fuels, metallurgy, defence equipment and tourism that accounts for over five per cent of GNP.
*  Apart from Škoda, other internationally known companies include the multinational energy producer ČEZ and brewer Budějovický Budvar whose brand is the original Budweiser.
*  Exports to Germany 32.8%, Slovakia 7.8%, Poland 6.1%, France 5.1%, (data from 2017).