Morning News: Thursday, December 8, 2022

Most Czechs would favour an easing of the current legalisation on the possession and cultivation of marijuana, suggests a study by the firm Behavio for the group Charta 420, who support calls from the national anti-drug coordinator, Jindřich Vobořil, for soft drug liberalisation.

The Czech government has extended checks on the country’s border with Slovakia for another 14 days on the proposal of the minister of the interior, Vít Rakušan, Czech Television reported on Wednesday. The controls were due to end on December 12.

The Czech prime minister, Petr Fiala, is likely to visit the United States in the first quarter of next year, the country’s ambassador to Washington, Miloslav Stašek, told the Czech News Agency. The diplomat said no specific date had yet been set.

Retail sales in Czechia have been falling year-on-year for six months now, according to data published by the Czech Statistics Office. In October, the decline accelerated to 9.4 percent from a 5.3 percent decrease in September. People spent less especially on non-essential consumer goods.

The volume of cryptocurrency trades in the Czech Republic fell by a fifth to CZK 200 million in November compared to October.  At the same time, spending was roughly 35 percent lower than in the same month last year.