Czech Cabinet Drafts Crisis Plan After Cutting GDP Outlook

The Czech government is preparing crisis scenarios to make sure it can continue trimming the budget deficit next year as the economy expands less than previously forecast, Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek said.

The Finance Ministry in Prague cut the 2012 economic growth forecast to 1 percent from 2.5 percent, which was the basis for calculating next year’s budget. This year’s economic outlook was reduced to 2.1 percent, from 2.5 percent due to a “worsening of the global economic situation,” the ministry said in a quarterly update of its forecasts today.