17/02/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 16 February, the Czech Ministers Council gave its approval to a 73 billion Czech Crown rescue package (€2.5bn), half of which will be in tax cuts. This anti-crisis measure accounts for almost 2% of GDP and will be submitted to parliament on Wednesday. The Czech prime minister, Mirek Topolanek, however, already acknowledged in a Slovak television interview last week, that the public deficit was already above the 3% GDP ceiling (as opposed to the 1.6% forecast during preparations for the 2009 budget) and that, “this is a big problem for a country that wants to join the Euro-zone”. At the same time (on Monday), the Czech Crown continued its free-fall compared to the Euro and reached its lowest level since January 2006 - a fall of almost 25% since July 2008. (P.B/trans/rh)