Czech Watch - 3 December 2001

The Democratic Union, one of the smaller parties represented in the opposition Four party coalition, has officially approved a merger with the Freedom Union.

Following Thursday's meeting with Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel, Czech Premier Milos Zeman said on Friday that the improvements to Temelín would cost some CZK 100 million. He denied a speculation of the Czech daily newspaper MF Dnes, that the costs should reach CZK 10 bn.

Defense minister Stanislav Gross wants to prolong statute of limitations for serious economic crimes and thus enable to finish the government action called "clean hands".

Czech money supply, the amount of cash, short-term deposits and near-cash instruments such as checks, expanded 11.8% in October from the same month a year ago, after a revised 12.0% growth rate in September.

The U.S. economy contracted at a 1.1 percent annual rate in the third quarter, more than estimated a month ago. Larger cuts in inventories, a wider trade deficit and a smaller rise in government spending led to the revision from a previously reported 0.4% pace of decline for the third quarter.

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