The Czech republic has joined Slovenia among new member states with higher levels of wealth per capita than old member Portugal, according to European Commission statistics.
The central European country enjoyed gross income per capita of 73 percent of the EU 25 average last year compared to 71 percent in Portugal, according to the latest estimate by the commission's statistical wing, Eurostat....
The results have left Slovenia and the Czech republic chasing Greece, on 83 percent, as the next old member state to overtake, with Slovenia set to draw level with Greece by 2007 and the Czech republic to narrow the gap further in the next two years, the study predicts.
This now raises some interesting questions. How will Slovenia's future growth compare with that of the Czech Republic (remember Slovenia is about to join the eurozone on 1 January 2007 while the Czech Republic is in no particular hurry to join)? What is the relation between Portugal's low-growth and eurozonemembership? Will the Czech Republic now overtake Greece?
We can also, I think, see more clearly some appropriate comparisons for testing the 'euro has been a spectacular success' hypothesis: we can look at the UK vs France, Finland vs Sweden and Denmark, and we can look at the Czech Republic vs Portugal.
Friday, January 20, 2006
The Czech Growth Engine?
Interesting news from the Czech Republic in this week:
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1 comment:
Greece is still way ahead of Czechia and 2007 has past. RE Eurostat, IMF, World Bank, WikiPaedia etc. I think too many eastern countries have set there targets to surpass Greece, in GDP PPP per capita and believe(d) they could do it overnight. This especially the case with Slovenia and Czech Republic. Taking a look at todays figures Slovenia and Czech Republic are nooooo where near Greece. Maybe they should look and compare with Italy gdp ppp per capita as its growth rate is the lowest in Europe. Slovenia and Czech republic have a better chance of catching up to Italy and Spain rather than Greece with its high growth rate
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