Trade balance Actual (April): CZK 15.4bn Consensus: CZK 13.0bn Previous (March): CZK 17.6bn Trade balance posted slightly lower surplus in April compared to March. Exports profit from a mild recovery of the Euro zone economy. However, debt woes put the strength of the recovery into question. Imports suffer from weak household expenditures, but higher prices of oil and other imported commodities drove up the value of imports. Rising imports of machinery and electrical appliances suggest that investment activity could start to improve gradually. In 2010, we expect the foreign trade to reach a surplus of CZK 180-190bn taking the current account deficit down to 0.4% of GDP from 1.0% of GDP last year.