The submission to communism ended in 1989 with Velvet
Revolution, so named for being a nonviolent revolution, manifested in the
streets of Prague and caused when the police used the force at a peaceful
student demonstration. In the middle of 1989, the political situation in
Central Europe was very unstable, and almost all the communist regimes in the
region experienced internal pressures for liberalizations similar to the
experienced in the Soviet Union. The Czechoslovak press, although censored by
the government, continued to report on the events in East Germany, where
thousands of citizens demanding unrestricted emigration to the western sector
as well as what happened in Poland, where elections were held in 1989 involving
non-Communist parties. All this promoted one of the most important historical
moments for the country, the mentioned Velvet Revolution.
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| Velvet Revolution in 1989 |
Since 2004 Czech Republic joined the European Union,
which was a great opening to tourism especially for Prague, which annually
receives about 3 million tourist to visit one of the most beautiful and magical
cities of Europe which was hidden for so long. The agricultural sector has declined
progressively workforce, having in 2004 a 3% of the total, contributing less
than 3% of GDP. The most important crops are cereals such as wheat and barley,
followed at great distance from the beet, potatoes and flax.
The economy of the Czech Republic maintains a highly diversified industrial structure. The industry employs almost a third of the workforce and now represents about 40% the percentage of the population. Despite the lack of new issues and new technologies of some large companies, foreign investment from Germany, Japan and other developed countries are allowing the installation of new industries, especially automobiles and improving heavy industry.
Another major resource for the country's mining
focuses on energy sources like coal and lignite, as well as nuclear energy. This
causes high levels of environmental pollution and the failure of the Kyoto
Protocol. The tertiary sector has experienced a huge growth, with 57% of the
population employed in this sector in 2003, contributing 55% to GDP.
The Czech Republic's economy has weathered the
economic crisis acceptably since 2008. It can be compared with the growth of
GDP in 2006 and 2007 of 7% and 6.1% respectively. In 2008 grew by 2.3% and in
2009 suffered a GDP growth of -4.0%, returning in 2010 to 2.3% growth had two
years ago, seems to confirm that the economy of this country is going of the
crisis, but the bad situation in Europe during 2011 appears to be slowing their
advance, since 80% of their trade are produced with the European Union.
The unemployment rate in April 2011 was 8.6%,
indicating an improvement over previous years. Regarding inflation, the CPI for
the year 2010 has been 1.5%, however, and for 2011 is forecast to 2%. The
public debt is very high compared to other European countries in 2010 and
involved 38.5% of GDP. The strengths of Czech economy are financial and
industrial base that provided high growth rates in the years before the crisis
that began in 2008, figures of moderate public finances and low interest rates.
Its weakest point is the high dependence on exports, particularly in the
automotive sector.
The Czech capital, Prague, is more than 1 000 years old
and has a wealth of historic architecture of different styles. Because of this,
the city has become a favored location for many international film makers. GDP
per capita of Prague is more than double than the general one of Czech
Republic. It reached $ 38,400 in 2006, representing more than 50% of the EU
average for that year. This country is the eleventh richest region of the
Union.
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| Prague |
Prague is the country's economic hub. Besides being
the capital of most financial institutions and transnational corporations are
based in the city. These, among other things, enable Prague represents about
25% of Czech GDP. However the growth of GDP in Prague is less than the national
average since 2001.
Prague has been able to absorb the labour force both
nationally and internationally attracted by the prosperity of the city. In 2001,
Prague concentrated about 20% of job vacancies in the country, which is
especially significant when compared with just over 10% of total population of
Prague on the total population. The demand for workers was 726,000 people while
the city population was only 600,000. The unemployment rate in Prague is about
the half one of the country. In addition, its central position in Europe as
well as a price level lower than that of Western Europe helps many
international companies choose it as their European headquarters.
The distribution sector of the city is a marked trend
towards the tertiary sector. In 2006, 82% of the value added created in the
city belongs to the service sector. On the other side of the scale is the
industrial sector, whose weight is significantly lower than the rest of the
country. Another sector that has grown in the first decade of XXI century is
the construction, with more than 50% increase between 2001 and 2006 in terms of
value of houses built.
Tourism is, without any doubt, one of the highlights
of this country. Since the Velvet Revolution the city takes its architectural beauty
in the tourism sector. In 2005, 6.4 million tourists visited the Czech
Republic, of which a large majority passed through Prague. Over 90% of hotel
rooms occupied were aimed at foreign tourists.
Finally, the Czech Republic is a country marked by its
history, which in turn has helped to achieve the popularity and tourism has.
Its economy is one of the milestones achieved by the country as having lived
some tough times with communism has been known to have a stable and powerful
economy, up to stay in the situation of crisis that we, unlike other countries
with more years of democratic experience.
