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The Czech national railway operator, Czech Railways, posted a loss of 4 billion CZK in 2001, 800 million less than in the previous year. The figure is 1.3 billion lower than loss envisaged by the company's board of directors.

Economic growth in Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States will slow this year, with Poland and Russia acting as a drag on the region, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said in its bi-annual Transition Report.

According to Czech regional daily Deniky Bohemia, farmers in mountainous regions of the Czech Republic fear they might go bankrupt after the Czech Republic joins the EU.

The number of Czech households with an digital ISDN phone line has been growing by hundreds of per cent every year - from 195 at the end of 1997 to more than 80,000 at the end of 2001 and to over 83,000 in April this year.

Czech retail sales on March grew by five percent year-on-year, as compared to 4.2 percent in February while the overall price level remained virtually the same. The Czech Statistical Office said the acceleration was mainly due to surging demand for groceries and petrol, but also clothing and household and gardening products.

The Czech unemployment rate decreased to 8.8 percent in April from 9.1 percent in March. In April 2001, unemployment stood at 8.3 percent. The development is in line with expectations of economic analysts.

Meanwhile, Czech Prime Minister Milos Zeman said it was highly unlikely that the Czech government would manage to privatise Czech Telecom before the upcoming June general elections.