Top Czech Business News - Prague Daily Monitor

IBM has won the Health Ministry's tender worth CZK 0.5 billion for a new information system, which is one of the biggest IT public orders this year, the economic weekly Euro reports in its latest issue out on Monday.

A total of 105,812 customers changed their electricity supplier in the first half of this year, more than twice as many as in the same period a year ago, according to data published in the website of the Czech Electricity Market Operator (OTE).

President Václav Klaus considers the government's plan to cut and tax his salary necessary, however he finds it amusing that he has been asked to make the biggest sacrifice of all constitutional officials, he told Mladá fronta Dnes.

The Czech Government Office's budget will be CZK 61.5 million lower in 2011 than this year in line with the budget cuts planned by the centre-right coalition cabinet of the Civic Democrats (ODS), TOP 09 and Public Affairs (VV), government spokesman Martin Kupka told ČTK.

Expenditures on the state debt will rise by CZK 3.73bn to CZK 79.59bn next year, which is about 7.6% of the planned state budget expenditures of CZK 1,052.12bn, according to the draft state budget for 2011 approved by the Czech government on Wednesday.

Czech GDP growth was pulled mainly by industry and exports, while low household consumption was slowing it down moderately, analysts polled by CTK agreed Friday.

Czech economy grew by 2.2% year-on-year in the second quarter of this year, and by 0.8% against the first quarter, according to Czech Statistical Office preliminary data made public Friday.

The Czech National Bank has improved its estimate of development of public finance deficit to 5.4% of GDP for this year, while for next year it expects worsening to 6 percent, according to a report on inflation made public by the CNB Friday.

The government secretly scraped state contributions to EU subsidies for Czech regions and the regions would therefore lose CZK 2 billion in 2011, regions' association chairman Michal Hašek said yesterday.

Insurer Komerční pojišťovna collected CZK 5.16 billion in insurance premiums in the first half of this year, a year-on-year growth of 180%, the company has told ČTK.

The Czech economy grew by nearly 1% in the second quarter of this year compared with the previous three months and by more than 2% in year-on-year comparison, according to estimates of analysts polled by ČTK yesterday.

Former Industry Minister Martin Říman and Finance Minister Eduard Janota yesterday became new members of the supervisory board of power company ČEZ, ČEZ Spokesman Ladislav Kříž informed ČTK.

The Chamber of Deputies will have to cut expenditures by CZK 103 million in 2011 while the Senate will have CZK 24 million less at its disposal than in 2010, parliament officials told ČTK yesterday.

The government has approved a 2011 draft budget with a deficit of CZK 135 billion and a deficit of public finance amounting to 4.6% of GDP, Prime Minister Petr Nečas said yesterday. He said that this is no reform, but an austerity budget, adding that if the government did not set limits, the deficit would grow to CZK 210 billion, or 6.7% of GDP.

Car maker Škoda Auto will suspend production at its plant in Mladá Boleslav and partly in Vrchlabí on Thursday from 2pm due to a lack of car parts, the company's spokesman Jaroslav Černý told ČTK.

By voting confidence in the government, the Chamber of Deputies granted it a mandate to cut budget deficit, one of the government's key tasks, analysts polled by ČTK said.

Czech firms exported goods worth a record CZK 1.738 billion to Iraq in the first half of this year, three times more than in the same period a year ago, the Czech Statistical Office announced yesterday.

The number of foreigners employed in the Czech Republic started to fall after two months to 216,735 at end-July, 1,727 foreigners fewer on the month, according to data of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.

The government yesterday approved a document which says that the country needs CZK 34.1 billion to build sewage treatment plants and sewage systems in line with the EU directive, government spokesman Martin Kupka told ČTK.

The government has decided to release CZK 350 million from the budget reserve for removal of the damages inflicted by the weekend floods, Prime Minister Petr Nečas said yesterday.