Czech economy out of recession

[September 04, 2013]  PRAGUE (AP) -- The Czech Republic has moved out of recession, registering economic growth of 0.6 percent in the second quarter compared with the preceding three-month period.

The Czech Statistics Office said Tuesday that the economy was still down 1.3 percent compared with a year earlier.

The economy had contracted continuously from the third quarter of 2011 through the first quarter of 2013, the longest recession since the split of Czechoslovakia in 1993. To help growth, the central bank cut its key interest rate to a record low of 0.05 percent in November.

The Czech Republic was hurt by a drop in demand among its biggest trading partners, the European countries that use the euro. The eurozone as a bloc also emerged from recession in the second quarter of 2013.

[Associated Press]

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