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Unemployment in the Czech Republic decreased in March to 9.1 percent from 9.3 percent in February. In March 2001, the unemployment rate stood at 8.7 percent. According to the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, there are now 471,000 jobless people in the country.

The Czech government has banned imports of Slovak beef, saying the incidence of mad cow disease or BSE in Slovakia is too high. The ban came into force on Thursday.

Czech inflation slowed in March to 3.7 percent year-on-year as compared to 3.9 percent in February.

The Czech Republic posted an unexpectedly high GDP growth in 2001, fuelled mainly by domestic consumption. The Czech Statistical Office said the nation's GDP increased 3.6 per cent in 2001 over the previous year to 2.1 trillion CZK (or 58 billion USD). It was the biggest jump in the key economic rate since 1996, when GDP rose 4.3 per cent.

The Czech Telecommunications Office recently reduced maximum fixed-to-fixed interconnection prices, by 9 to 40 percent.

The Czech crown once again strengthened to a record level against the Euro this week, when the exchange rate reached 30.48 crowns per Euro.