PRAGUE, Czech Republic, May 15 (UPI) -- Czech authorities estimate the gross domestic product in the first three months of 2009 will show a 3.4 percent decline.
It would be the biggest economic quarterly drop year-on-year in the country's modern history, Prague Radio said.
Amid the global economic crisis that also hit the Czech Republic, Prague economists originally expected the GDP would shrink 2 percent in the first quarter.
Officials at the Czech Finance Ministry forecast the economic output would drop 2.3 percent for all of 2009, while in 2010 the GDP would slightly improve and rise 0.8 percent.
The country's unemployment rose from 7.7 percent in March to 7.9 percent in April, and is likely to rise to 10 percent by the year's end, the radio network said.
