The Czech Republic and Slovakia shared a state for most of the last century, and their similarities are striking – from baroque capital cities and mutually intelligible languages to political systems that have both elected shaky centre-right coalitions now embarking on painful budget cuts.
For the most part they are also economic twins – small, open economies where the car sector looms large and trade, overwhelmingly with Germany, accounts for about 80% of gross domestic product (GDP). When both countries were hit by the 2009 recession, their economies even contracted by similar amounts, 4.1% for the Czech Republic and 4.7% for Slovakia.
