Prague hosted a record number of conferences and congresses in 2018. Over 4,500 events took place in its collective accommodation establishments last year – that is more than a third of all events held in the Czech Republic. The Czech metropolis welcomed almost 540,000 delegates from all over the world. At the same time, Prague occupied the ninth position in the international ranking of the most popular meeting destinations this year. According to the Czech Statistical Office (CZSO), that keeps only the records of meetings held in the collective accommodation establishments and with the attendance over 50 persons, 4,534 conferences and congresses took place in Prague in 2018. That is by 2.2 % more than in the record year of 2016 and by 3.3% more than in 2017. At the same time, it is also 36% of all events held in the Czech Republic. The number of delegates has remained around 540,000 since 2013, while the average number of participants per meeting has been on decline. These facts only confirm the long-term trend when the organizers prefer to hold more events for a smaller number of participants. The total number of meeting participants who arrived in Prague in 2018 was 536,232 – by 1.4% more...
Do you plan to relocate to the Czech Republic but you don’t have much information about the Czech Labour Market yet? The recruitment agency Grafton Recruitment has collected some useful information about average wage, desired employee benefits or possibilities of opening bank accounts. The Czech economy is still developing according to a current forecast published by the Czech National Bank. Even though its last prognosis originally showed a higher number, the estimated growth of the Czech economy for this year should be about 2.9 percent. Also, an average exchange rate of the Czech crown will present about 25 crowns to 1 Euro and neither should its growth be halted next year, as its value should increase to 24.20 crowns to 1 Euro on average. Foreigners living and working in the Czech Republic account for more than half a million of the population and make up 10.7 percent of the overall employment rate, as reported by the Czech Statistical Office. They mostly seek jobs in the Finance or Accounting sectors, HR, Customer operations, IT or Technical support, Procurement, Logistics, and Sales. Average Salary and Attractive Benefits The Czech Statistical Office disclosed information about the average salary in the Czech Republic in...
Support for remaining in the EU stands at well over 80 percent in the majority of member states, a new continent-wide poll has found – with Britain’s political crisis apparently a poor advert for leaving. The survey by Kantar asked people how they would vote in an in-out referendum and found that Luxembourg (94 percent), Portugal (92 percent), Ireland (91 percent), and the Netherlands (91 percent) had the highest support for EU membership out of the 28 countries in the bloc. Apart from the UK, the highest level of support for leaving was in the Czech Republic, where 66 percent supported Remain and 34 percent Leave. Italy was close behind as the next most Eurosceptic country, with 72 percent Remain and 28 percent Leave. Austria and France were the third and fourth most Eurosceptic. It’s not surprising that Czech skepticism or opposition to the European Union is strongest amongst the unemployed and self-employed. Those living in small towns as opposed to the capital, Prague, and bigger cities are also more critical. And those with basic or elementary education are also more likely to be opposed. And a strong majority of Czechs believe they are being given an overly positive view of...
Czech GDP growth was 2.9 percent last year, which means that Czechia is the 13th fastest growing economy in the European Union. In this regard, the Czech economy surpasses the original EU Member States, including Germany, and the EU average as a whole. The Irish, Maltese, and Polish economies grew the fastest last year, while the economies of Italy, Denmark, Great Britain, and Germany slowed down. Surprisingly, the Czech economy grew even though it is strongly linked to the underperforming countries. “New member countries are growing faster, except for Ireland and Malta. Old member states have been weaker,” said Marek Rojíček, head of the Czech Statistical Office. However, the growth of the Czech economy slowed down in 2018 compared to 2017, from 4.5 percent to 2.9 percent of GDP. Consumption and investment activity were the main drivers of the economy last year. On the other side, it was weakened by the decline in foreign demand and also by the labor shortage. Based on the development of economic growth, the Czech economy is probably already behind its peak, according to Rojíček. From an economic point of view, the Czech Republic reached 89 percent of the EU level in 2017, so the...
Czech police said on Wednesday that Prime Minister Andrej Babis and others should stand trial for alleged fraud involving the handling of a 2 million euro European Union subsidy – charges that could see him jailed for up to 10 years. The probe against Babiš focuses another spotlight on the EU’s eastern wing, a region that’s been rocked by scandal. Babis rejected the allegations on Wednesday, denouncing them as “an organized plot” designed to ruin his political career. The case involves a farm that received EU subsidies after its ownership was transferred from the Babis-owned Agrofert conglomerate of some 250 companies to Babis’ family members. The subsidies were meant for medium and small businesses and Agrofert would not have been eligible for them. Later, Agrofert again took ownership of the farm. Babiš denies any wrongdoing. Author: red
Employers with a higher number of employees should be obliged to make public the information on the pay-gap between their male and female employees, Czech ombudswoman Anna Šabatová has said, adding that if they did not comply, they could be banned from public tenders. Women in the Czech Republic receive on average 22 percent less pay than men. Šabatová explains why: “One reason is that women never find out about certain [lucrative] jobs. Not only is it customary not to talk about money: in many companies it’s forbidden. Whereas in the past equal pay for equal work was what protests were all about, today that’s impossible because of the confidentiality clause. Companies oblige workers not to tell anyone how much they earn. Everyone is expected to negotiate their salary for themselves. As statistics show, that systematically puts women at a disadvantage. But women also need decent wages. Flowers they can buy for themselves.” Women in the Czech Republic earn on average 80,000 crowns less per year than men do and the gap is wider in the Czech private sector than in the public sector. In the EU, on average women are paid 16 percent less than men, according to Eurostat....
The Czech Republic’s Ministry of Finance has announced plans to increase gambling taxes in the country, with bingo, live games, and lotteries set to be the hardest hit. Aside from gaming machines, which are taxed at 35% of gross gaming revenue (GGR), all gambling taxes in the country are currently at 23% of GGR. However, such rates would jump to 30% of GGR for lotteries, live games, and bingo operators, if the Ministry’s plans are approved. Other forms of gambling, such as fixed-odds betting, face a more modest increase from 23% to 25% of GGR, while the 35% rate for gaming machines would remain unchanged. The proposals, which would come into force in January 2020 if rubber-stamped later this year, also include tax hikes for the tobacco and alcohol sectors, with the Ministry insisting that the sole aim is to “increase the public budget”. The Ministry’s submission for the tax changes stated: “The proposed amendment to the gambling tax law divides the rate of gambling tax into three levels, according to the harmfulness of individual gambling in the same way as the government’s draft Gambling Tax Act of 2015.” However, the plans have drawn criticism from a number of politicians...
The Czech Finance Ministry plans to raise the excise tax on tobacco and cigarettes by 10 percent in 2020, aiming to raise up to an additional 7.7 billion crowns in state budget revenue, it said in a proposal on the government’s website on Friday. The tax rise is expected to increase budget revenue more in 2021, by up to 9.2 billion crowns, the proposal said, as effects of pre-stocking of lower-taxed products wane. The ministry also proposed higher taxes on spirits and gambling, which should boost budget revenue by 1.3 billion crowns in 2020, it said. The proposal must win the parliament’s backing to take effect. The government has been seeking to boost revenue to fund hikes in pensions and public sector wages as economic growth cools down. Author: red
Around 9.6 percent of Czechs were threatened by income poverty last year, said the Czech Statistics Office on Thursday. The figure was up 0.6 percent over the previous year. The income poverty line is set at 11,963 CZK per individual per month, or 25,122 per family with two children, said the office, releasing the result of the survey on income and living conditions of households. The Czech Republic continues to rank among the EU countries with the lowest share of people under the poverty line, said the Czech Statistics Office. The average monthly wage in the Czech Republic currently stands at 33,840 CZK. The survey shows that most households get their income quite easily or with little difficulty. But this is a big problem for 17.6 percent of households. In particular, single parents with children and women over the age of 65 who live alone have difficulty getting along with income. Also, the survey finds that almost one-tenth of Czech households pay more than 40 percent of their net income for housing, including energy. About two-thirds of them live in rented flats and the largest group among them are lonely pensioners. Author: red
The Budejovicky Budvar brewery in České Budějovice managed to survive a decades-long trademark battle over whether it could call its beer Budweiser. But now it faces another potential threat: Brexit. The United Kingdom is one of the brewer’s top five markets, though it won’t say exactly how much beer it sends there. Like many other businesses, it’s concerned about what will happen if Britain leaves the European Union without an agreement governing trade. That exit is due to happen on March 29, though with political wrangling still very much underway, a delay looks likely. That’s meant worrying uncertainty for businesses like Budvar that rely on being able to send their goods to Britain without inspection delays at borders. “It’s about two weeks to Brexit and nobody knows anything,” said Budvar director Petr Dvorak. “We’re now waiting for what happens because it’s going to be uncertain till the last moment.” Budvar’s business has been growing — it increased exports by 8.5 percent to reach 1.075 million hectoliters (28.4 million gallons) last year. The brewer reached its production capacity in recent years and has been expanding to be able to produce more. Still, a loss of UK business would be a blow,...
The Czech Republic has the highest job vacancy rate in the European Union, according to new data published by Eurostat on March 18. At six per cent, the vacancy rate in the Czech Republic is almost twice that of Belgium and Germany (3.4 per cent). Hungary is the only other emerging European country which has a higher vacancy rate than the EU average of 2.3 per cent. The lowest rates in the EU are found in Greece (0.4 per cent), Bulgaria, Ireland, Spain and Portugal (all 0.9 per cent). Elsewhere in emerging Europe, Latvia’s vacancy rate is the same as the EU average, at 2.3 per cent, closely followed by Slovenia with a rate of 2.2 per cent. Estonia’s vacancy rate is 1.8 per cent, Croatia’s 1.4 per cent, Lithuania’s and Slovakia’s 1.3 per cent and Romania’s 1.2 per cent. Poland has a vacancy rate of 1.1 per cent. Jakub Siedler, chief economist for the Dutch bank ING in the Czech Republic, said last month that the lack of a suitable workforce has become an increasingly more important barrier to further economic growth in the country. Eurostat defines a job vacancy as a paid post (newly created, unoccupied or about to become vacant)...
Czech apartment prices accelerated in 2H18, most likely due to the frontloading effect motivated by new macroprudential central bank rules. In our view, apartment prices should slow down this year. Czech apartment prices grew by 11.4% year on year in last quarter of 2018, after growing by 9.4% in the third quarter and 8.5% in the first half of 2018. In Prague, the prices of apartments rose by 8.7% year on year, but the prices of new apartments accelerated almost 18% year on year. Driven by frontloading activity on the credit market The sharp rise in apartment prices is most likely related to strong activity in the Czech property market and at the beginning of 4Q18, due to the frontloading effect on the back of stricter macroprudential recommendations of the Czech central bank. The volume of new housing loans accelerated by 30% in September and 50% in October 2018, as many were concerned mortgages might become unavailable to them after the new central bank measures. Prices to slowdown this year Given the frontloading effect pushing prices up in 2018, the slightly weaker economic activity expected this year, and mainly new stricter central bank measures limiting access to mortgages, property price growth will significantly slow down this...
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