Top Czech Business News - Prague Daily Monitor

The Czech crown weakened to both main world currencies Monday, losing 9 hellers to CZK 24.84/EUR and 10 hellers to CZK 19.57/$ at around 5pm, according to the server Patria Online.

Defence Minister Alexandr Vondra said Monday he can see no reason for soldiers to demonstrate against the planned cuts in the armed forces' budget.

The Czech banking sector would not be jeopardised even in the case of very unfavourable economic and financial sector development, the central bank said on its website referring to the new stress tests.

People employed at health care facilities and schools will join the 21 September demonstration of policemen and firefighters against the wage cuts and changes in the Labour Code that the government plans within its austerity measures.

Economic results of petrochemical group Unipetrol for the first half of this year should be better than a year ago, say analysts polled by ČTK who expect an improvement by net and operating profit and in sales.

Employers welcome PM Petr Nečas's proposal for radical changes in the Labour Code, while trade unions oppose them and economists favour higher flexibility of the labour market but fear potential protests. In an interview for the business daily Hospodářské noviny Nečas said he would like an amendment to the Labour Code containing, for example, notice of dismissal without a reason, unlimited row of fixed-term work contracts and lower influence of the unions.

Budget cuts will cause the sacking of about 5-8% of civil servants paid from the state budget, Czech Prime Minister Petr Nečas told TV station Prima Saturday.

Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek has asked the European Commission for an exception from the EU's rules for the collection of VAT on motor fuels, he said Saturday. The step is to prevent tax evasions which are reaching up to CZK 8bn annually.

The PPF group has ended its local media project as it has sold its PPF Media company to investor Richard Benýšek, PPF told ČTK Friday.

Nearly two thirds of Czech companies say that, from their point of view, the economic crisis is not yet over, 27% are of the opinion that it is subsiding and less than 10% believe it is over, according to a poll the Economic Chamber made in June.

Czech farmers may break even this year but a loss cannot be excluded, Agricultural Chamber president Jan Veleba said Saturday.

Savings of Czech households have increased fourfold to over CZK 1,500bn since the foundation of the independent Czech Republic in the year 1993, according to a report published by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.

The winners of this year's local elections in the Czech Republic to take place in October will have a harder position than their predecessors from October 2006, according to Labour and Social Affairs Ministry data.

The Czech National Bank (CNB) will likely raise the benchmark interest rate by 0.25 percentage point to one percent at the end of this year or at the beginning of 2011, central bank Board member Robert Holman told server Týden.cz.

The government will appoint Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek as the country's governor in the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) next Wednesday, according to a material for the cabinet meeting.

A group of companies Penta Investments and Zátiší Catering Group have won a tender for debt clearance at the Congress Centre (KCP) in Prague, deputy mayor Milan Richter told journalists after a meeting of the KCP board.

Power producer ČEZ has bought 25% of Poland's black-coal fired power plant Elektrocieplownia Elcho, becoming its full owner, the company said on its website yesterday.

The value of investments the Czech Republic received through the CzechInvest agency fell to CZK 7 billion in H1 2010 against CZK 10.5 billion a year ago.

Waste generation decreased by 6.3% to 24.2 million tonnes last year, the volume of dangerous waste remained almost unchanged at 1.51 million tonnes but its share of total output rose from 5.9 to 6.2%, according to data of the Czech Statistical Office.

The Transport Ministry was wasting money on a number of useless and overpriced services, including purchase of furry teddy bears and flower watering, daily Mladá fronta Dnes reported yesterday.