Prague- The Czech Republic's economy expanded slower in the third quarter of 2008 than estimated in November, government data showed Wednesday.

The Czech Statistical Office revised down its third-quarter annual gross domestic product (GDP) estimate of 4.7 per cent to 4.2 per cent.

The economy grew 0.9 per cent quarter-on-quarter compared to the estimate of 1 per cent, the statisticians said. They also revised down the country's annual growth in
2007 to 5.9 per cent, from earlier 6.5 per cent.

The Czech Republic has been so far largely spared the effects of the turmoil on the global financial markets but the country's economy is expected to sharply slow down owing to falling demand in Western Europe. (dpa)