Despite a cold month, the unemployment rate continues its decline, and we expect the labour market's strong momentum to be the main pro-inflationary factor this year.

The share of unemployed has turned south again after taking a two-month break. In February, it cut two ticks. The number of vacancies keeps growing and is approaching the number of reachable unemployed. That corroborates the view that the situation on the labour market is extremely tight, which should be visible in the wage statistics for 4Q17 released tomorrow. We expect an increase on the back of a surge of salaries in the public sector, Komerční banka says.

The Czech Republic has made limited progress in addressing the long-term sustainability of public finances. Some progress has been made in improving the anti-corruption and public procurement frameworks and in streamlining procedures for granting building permits. The range of e-government services has expanded and the quality of R&D has slightly improved. Some progress has also been observed in fostering employment of under-represented groups, 2018 European Semester Winter Package report says. The investment outlook is favourable, though.

The Transatlantic Economy Report 2018 presents the most up-to-date facts and figures about the EU-US economic relationship. The research was conducted independently by Dan Hamilton and Joseph Quinlan of the Center for Transatlantic Relations, Johns Hopkins University. The study includes dedicated profiles for 30+ European countries and all US states. Value added by U.S.-owned foreign affiliates totaled an estimated $5.4 billion. Estimated affiliate employment in the Czech Republic is among the highest in eastern Europe, with American firms employing an estimated 96,084 workers in 2016, the report says.