Czech Republic

Czech Republic is one of the most economically developed countries of Europe. In the year 1948, when the Communists came to power, they created a highly centralized economic system in which almost every aspect of economic planning and management came under the control of the central government. This economic policy followed a tradition of trading that took place only between the Communist countries. No doubt, following this tradition had the country boasting of a high standard of living in comparison to other European countries then, but in the long run it led to an economic decline. As the Communist regime collapsed in 1989, the subsequent government took reform measure to save the situation. The new economic policy privatized most of the firms and business boomed in the major cities of the country. So the declining economy soon began to recover and in late 1994, inflation was about 10 percent, less than half of what it was in 1991. Gross domestic product (GDP) increased by approximately 2 percent in 1994. Industrial production, which declined sharply in 1990 and 1991, also grew in 1994. The country's foreign debt has remained modest. By 2001 the GDP had reached $56.8 billion.