PRAGUE: The Czech economy is headed for a double-dip recession due to the coronavirus pandemic but the second dip is likely to be shallower than the first, central bank Governor Jiri Rusnok said on Tuesday.

"Now it's already clear that we are heading for a double-dip recession, hopefully the second dip to be likely shallower than the first one, mainly because the manufacturing industry is doing relatively very well in this second/third wave of the pandemic," he told an online conference.

Rusnok said that the overall economic drop for 2020 may be less deep than previously thought, and reiterated that the bank did not feel a need to ease monetary policy further.