(ČIA) Companies continue to experience low demand, especially in the automotive sector, and are forced to lay off further, despite government programs to maintain employment. In response to IHS Markit data, Jakub Seidler, ING Bank's chief economist for the Czech Republic, said so. Komerční banka economist Michal Brožka said that the PMI index had risen, but from extremely low values. It still remains well below the 50-point level that separates economic decline from growth. Raiffeisenbank analyst Luboš Růžička assumes that the economy could start to pick up in Q3 2020. However, the predicted growth will not be able to compensate for the deep decline from H1 2020.