National Accounts - 3rd quarter of 2012

GDP further decreased in Q3 2012

In Q3 2012, the gross domestic product adjusted for price, seasonal, and calendar effects decreased according to the refined estimate by 1.3%, year-on-year (y-o-y), and by 0.3%, quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q).

In Q3 2012, according to the refined estimate, the gross domestic product (GDP) adjusted for price effects and seasonally adjusted ^*/ decreased by 1.3%, y-o-y (preliminary estimate from 15 November forecasted drop by 1.5%) and compared to Q2 2012 by 0.3% (the forecast was 0.3%). In total for the first three quarters, the Czech economy generated GDP by 0.9% lower than in the corresponding period of the last year.

At the same time, time series of quarterly indicators for 2009 to 2011 has been updated, which follows revised annual data published on 1 October. Refined estimates of the y-o-y and q-o-q development of GDP are in the tables below:

Year-on-year change of the GDP (%), adjusted for price and seasonal effects


Quarter-on-quarter change of the GDP (%), adjusted for price and seasonal effects


Development in the third quarter

The economy performance has further decreased in the past quarter in both the y-o-y and q-o-q comparison. The external trade surplus was not high enough to fully compensate the drop of domestic demand for consumer and investment goods and services – the same as in the previous quarters.

On the supply side of the economy, the gross value added (GVA) decreased by 1.3%, y-o-y, and by 0.5%, q-o-q, namely due to the development in construction, agriculture, and industry. For rather a long time already, construction has to cope with lack of orders like large line structures and both residential and non-residential buildings and structures and thus it could not fully utilise its available capacities. Therefore, during the past three years, employment dropped there by more than six percent, hours worked and gross value added by more than ten percent. Agriculture had to cope with lower harvest than in the previous year. This loss was compensated by a price increase of agricultural products, which, however, was reflected only in results at current prices. The drop of generation of the gross value added in industry (which used to be the key source of growth of the economy) was contributed to by manufacturing (due to the decrease of domestic and non-domestic orders in some industries) and, most of all, energy and mining.

There was a negative development of the domestic demand as a result of decreasing expenditure both on final consumption and capital formation. The y-o-y drop of final consumption expenditure of households by 2.4% was mainly owing to lower interest in consumer durables; however, what was also dropping was expenditure on food, alcohol and tobacco products, energy, and other goods and services. Expenditure on final consumption of entities included in the general government sector remained unchanged compared to the corresponding quarter of the last year. Gross fixed capital formation was lower by 2.3% in total, y-o-y, due to more than a five-percent decrease of investments to residential and non-residential buildings and structures. Expenditure on machinery and equipment and transport, on the contrary, slightly increased. Compared to the Q3 2011, there was distinctively lower change in inventories.

For the development of external demand it was crucial that exports of goods were much higher than imports. While imports of goods increased in the Q3 at constant prices only by 0.2%, y-o-y, the exports increased in the same period by 5.0%. At current prices, quarterly active balance of trade with goods increased from CZK 18.3 bn in the last year to the current CZK 43.6 bn.

The overall price level measured by the GDP implicit deflator increased by 0.9%, y-o-y, in Q3 2012, of which household final consumption expenditure by 1.6%, fixed capital by 1.1%, exports by 3.3%, and imports by 3.8%.
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^*/ Unless otherwise stated, all data presented in this news release are adjusted for price, seasonal, and calendar effects.


Contact person: Jan Heller, Director of the Quarterly National Accounts Department, phone numb er (+420) 274 052 865, e-mail: jan.heller@czso.cz
Used data sources updated as at: 4 December 2012
Related CZSO web page: /csu/czso/hdp_ts
Next News Release will be published on: 14 February 2013 (GDP preliminary estimate for the fourth quarter of 2012)

Published: 07.12.2012
The data are valid as of the release date of the publication.