Czech Republic essays

Czech Republic essays The government of the Czech Republic faced a political and financial crises in 1997 shattered their image as one of the most stable and prosperous post-Communist states. This somewhat new republic, despite the financial tribulation, has been able to reduce their inflation to 10 percent, formed a balanced budget, and hold unemployment down to only 3 percent, since their break away from the former Czechoslovak federation on January 1, 1993. The countrys gross domestic product (GDP) expanded in 1994 after losses of nearly 20% during the first few years of the 1990s. The Czech Republics GDP is currently about $120.8 billion according to a 1999 estimate, and the GDP per capita is The lands of the Czech Republic have always been a part of the most economically modern areas within the European continent. The Communists, when they obtained Czechoslovakia in 1948, created an economic system that was greatly centralized on the government. Nearly all aspects of the Czech economy was controlled by the national government. This government regulated economy also removed almost all external influence by non-Communistic countries. Though the Czech economy held strong by Eastern European standards, the policies produced from the Communist government led to an eventual economic decline in Czechoslovakia. Once the final remains of Communism was scraped out in 1989, a collapse of Czechoslovakia was inevitable because the legacy left behind would be incredibly hard to deal with for the new leaders of this new state. In the early 1990s the post-Communist government quickly converted the economy to a system based on free enterprise. The new governments also adopted several reform policies, including a voucher privatization plan. Under this plan, citizens were given, for a small government fee, coupons which could later be converted into stock in companies. The voucher plan successfully privatize...