Financial Stability Report 2021

As product prices often change in opposite directions, each of us might face quite different increases in the cost of living. Therefore, inflation is not the same for everyone – it is different for each of us.

In the first quarter of 2021, the national pandemic containment measures and the high uncertainty limiting consumption and investment continued to weigh on GDP growth. GDP declined by 1.7% compared to the fourth quarter of 2020 (seasonally adjusted data).

Just like in spring when some places are still completely covered in snow, while elsewhere the first green shoots are already piercing through, the recently released Central Statistical Bureau's labour force survey data on the first quarter of 2021 also contain some indications of a frozen labour market as well as the first heralds of the expected economic recovery.

In the first quarter of 2021, the value of exports of goods increased by 8.2%, with the biggest contribution coming from the "hot" exports of products of wood, driven by high demand in the construction sector and the related increase in prices.